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writing-wren · 6 years

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Turn Back Time

Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender Genre: Angst and Fluff, Hurt/Comfort Word Count: 23161 Summary: Basically, Lotor finds a way to turn Keith back into a child, but Team Voltron saves him -will they get him back to his old self, though? ... He IS cute as a shy 5-year-old... [Part 8 of the Mother Hens of Marmora ‘verse. Read all parts on Ao3]

IT IS FINISHED FINALLY 23k words, phew. This really took a damn long time, I just hope you guys like it! =)

OH, and this got so long that there’s quite some time jumps and changes of PoV, and I’m using asterisks to indicate those. So whenever you see one * that means a change of PoV, and *** mean time jump.

A last thing before I post this and go to answer all those lovely comments I've gotten in the meantime: Never ever would I have managed this if it wasn't for @paladin-pile. Thank you so, so much for all the times you read what I'd written already, for talking about it with me and helping me to improve the parts that didn't make sense and encouraging me to go on <3

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“You fight like a Galra soldier,” Zarkon has told Keith, that day. Back then the red paladin took his words as an insult -him, a Galra?!

***

“You fight like a Galra soldier,” Lotor remarks, when they clash swords for the first time. ‘Galra’ is not an insult anymore; it’s something that makes Keith proud these days.

“Half Galra,” he replies through clenched teeth; Keeping up with Lotor takes all his concentration, having a chat as a sideline is difficult. His opponent doesn’t seem to have these problems and raises his eyebrows in surprise.

“Oh?” he says, “Is that so?” He looks interested now, but Keith doesn’t have the time at the moment to think about what that means.

***

“You should join us,” the Galra prince tells him, the next time they meet. “Half Galras have a place in the Empire now; you could be a part of something bigger…”

“I am a part of something bigger,” Keith grunts as he blocks Lotor’s attack, thinking of Voltron, of the team, of his pack (and his pride; geez, he can hear Lance crying in the back of his head if he doesn’t).

***

“You could become one of my generals.”

“Thanks, but no, thanks.”

Lotor’s eyes harden for a second or two, narrowing, his lips a thin line, before his expression shifts back into the calm, almost friendly one he seems to wear all the time.

“As you wish.”

***

The next time they fight, Lotor moves a lot faster; Keith can’t keep up with him.

Goddammit, he thinks, he tricked me.

After that it’s dark.

He doesn’t hear the pack’s roars or his fellow paladins calling out for him -they won’t make it in time, Lotor has thought this all through too well. He’ll get what he wants, one way or the other.

***

When Keith wakes, everything is wrong. For one, it’s cold; too cold for the nest. Cold is bad. And it doesn’t smell like the nest, either, not like any member of his pack, or the team in general. Not like anywhere in the castle. His body feels heavy, like someone hit his head.

Which is when he remembers that someone, indeed, did. Lotor.

He growls angrily and tries to sit up, only for the growl to become a pained whine when his vision swims and a headache sets in that feels like he got into a car compactor; he can’t think straight for a few moments, black and white dots dancing in front of his eyes and his stomach is churning. When he manages to blink the dots away and the nausea slowly dissipates, Keith looks around, carefully turning his head to figure out where he is.

Surprisingly enough, it looks like an infirmary. He’s on a bed that doesn’t look like a prisoner’s cot, either. His armor and weapons are gone and, just as unsurprisingly, his hands are bound to the bed by shackles that just scream ‘Made in the Galra Empire’. It has to be a magnetic field or something, because there’s no chains whatsoever, and he does have some leeway, but there’s a force that keeps him from moving them too far. Pidge could probably explain it, or Hunk. If he thinks about it, Hunk would probably explain it while Pidge went and modified the whole thing; she does like to play with new tech.

“How are you feeling?” The quiet voice interrupts Keith’s thoughts and makes him frown.

“Lotor,” he growls. The prince is on his own, no soldiers or bodyguards, and Keith supposes that it’s not necessary because he’s literally chained to the bed. If he could, he’d be at Lotor’s throat right now, fighting teeth and nails to get out of here. It doesn’t matter that he probably wouldn’t even stand a chance; the Galra prince has shown himself to be much faster, more agile and, most of all, stronger than Keith ever thought he was. He’s played him, tricked him, held back to have the upper hand when it mattered, and Keith took the bait like a good little puppet.

The Galra smiles, friendly but… off somehow. False, Keith thinks. He sits down next to the bed on a chair, just out of reach. “Keith,” he says, and the paladin never wants to hear his name from these lips again. “You and I are the same. Both half Galra,” -and whoa, Keith didn’t know that, didn’t even think about that- “both fighters. We could join forces. We could be unstoppable. There’s a place for us in the Empire now.” He opens his arms, invitingly. “Why don’t we fight to unite the universe under one Emperor’s rule, to bring peace and harmony to everyone?”

Keith spits at him. “You might be able to convince your little lapdogs, but I’m not gonna be one of them! I fight for freedom, not your perverse, twisted illusion of it! You want me to be your paladin of Voltron or some shit, but that’s not going to happen! Never!” He knows where he belongs, now, has finally found a place and especially the people he can call home. And they’re going to come and get him out of here soon, he knows it. He just has to make it until then.

Lotor’s expression stays fake-friendly, calm and composed. “I see,” he says, nodding. “If that is how it is…” He leaves and Keith has the bad feeling that maybe he should’ve played along for now, get out of these shackles and in a better position to attack, but it’s too late for that. His hot-headedness has, once again, gotten him into trouble. Probably.

“My prince,” Zethrid says, once the door has closed behind Lotor with a quiet, hissing sound. “Should we torture him into submission then, or just kill him and find a new paladin for the red lion?”

“No, Zethrid. Not everything can be achieved through violence. He’s young, a kit by Galra standards, and people would turn against us if word got out about us killing or torturing him, no matter who he is. And we couldn’t secure the red lion, so the enemy would just find a new paladin anyway.”

“He’s a kit?!” She sounds shocked; not even she would usually just kill or even hurt a kit. “I apologize if that’s the case; of course we couldn’t do something like that…”

Lotor hums. “He seems older due to his human heritage, but he is only 18 and from the intel we could gather, he does have the instincts of a Galra kit. Did you know that he has even been captured before? It was an outpost, and they didn’t even recognize him, but apparently he used the fact that he is a kit that doesn’t look like it to confuse them and get away…”

“But what are we going to do with him then? I doubt he would ever voluntarily fight on our side…”

“Oh, I have an idea already. If it works out as planned, he will be even younger in just a few days and we can raise him to be loyal to the Empire. It will not compromise his connection to the Red Lion since he will not die and in just a few years time, Voltron will be ours. My father didn’t understand, but patience is the key here.” The prince turns to a waiting druid. “You can start now.”

“Yes, mylord.”

Team Voltron is thrown into a turmoil. Again it’s Keith, missing from their table at meal times, even though they’re hardly picking at their food anyway. Again it’s Keith in the enemy’s hands, Keith probably suffering right now, and the pack is distraught; they just got him back not so long ago and now their kit has been taken right in front of their eyes and they couldn’t do anything to help him.

Of course Shiro blames himself.

Lance is restless.

Pidge and Hunk do what they can to locate their fellow paladin, and, once they’ve figured it out, to hack into the system unnoticed to get enough intel for a rescue mission. They need schedules and such, which is no mean feat, since this is Lotor’s headquarters.

They sit down, all of them restless, worried and tense, and figure out their best options. A big part of the plan is Pidge being able to install some kind of mini cloaking shield into their armor; it’s something she’s been working on for quite some time now, she says, but she isn’t sure it it’ll work. It takes a whole day of her holed up in the laboratory with Hunk but it does work after all. They will infiltrate the Galra ship, all in Pidge’s lion, since giving the other lions a shield like hers would require a lot more work, time, and possibly a co-pilot. Hunk and Pidge will stay back outside, Pidge ready to leave any moment and Hunk as backup, while Shiro and Lance go looking for Keith. They’ll need to use their shields wisely, since, just like the Green Lion’s, they only work for a minute and a half at most until they need to recharge for a little while.

It all goes to plan, all unexpectedly easy; Shiro and Lance get in and part ways to look for Keith. Lance takes one look at Shiro and heads for the cells, knowing this is hard enough on the black paladin as it is. A relieved but still tense Shiro runs counter. He opens doors with his Galra hand, but finds no room occupied. Activates his shield for a few seconds each time a guard comes his way and hides. Opens another door -and freezes. There’s someone in here, but it’s no guard or Galra. It’s a child, sitting on the edge of a bed in what looks like an infirmary, his legs -he isn’t wearing shoes, Shiro notices- swinging back and forth and a familiar knife tightly held to his chest. He can’t be older than 5 or 6, and he looks extremely familiar. He hasn’t known Keith at that age, but he has seen a slightly older one back when they ran the training simulation, when it was the red paladin’s turn to face his fears. And even if he hadn’t, he knows it’s him.

“Keith?!”

The child looks up at his name and this just can’t be possible. It shouldn’t be possible. But then again, some of the things they did to Shiro he didn’t think would be possible, either.

“Are you the new one?” Keith asks, seemingly resigned to his fate and Shiro, swift to react even though he isn’t sure what the hell happened, says, “Yes.” He smiles, holding out his human hand for the boy to take. “Come along.” And Keith -is this really Keith? Is it a trick?- hops off the bed and comes over to him just a little bit hesitantly, looking at his armor and his prosthetic arm.

“You look strange…”

“Well, I’m…” Shiro trails off. What is he supposed to tell this child, who doesn’t seem to remember him? Does he know that he is on a space ship? Does he know about Galra? (Shiro isn’t sure what exactly happened to him, but he’s still in their headquarters and not having seen one yet sounds unlikely. Then again, Keith is too calm to have seen giant space cats). What should he tell him? That he’s a secret agent? A super hero? Or the truth, that they’re deep in space and he’s a pilot and a soldier?

“I’m Shiro. I’ll explain everything later, but we’re…” Just how is he supposed to tell him that they’re in space?

“Are we in space?” Keith asks, and for a second Shiro can only stare at him, blinking in surprise.

“How do you know that?”

“I looked out of the window. It looks like a book I have with pictures of the stars…”

Oh. Well.

“There was a really weird man with a mask who told me to wait here,” the child continues, and these big, blue-ish grey eyes might break Shiro’s heart. “He’s scary. Can we leave before he comes back?”

Druids, Shiro’s mind supplies. They must’ve experimented on Keith… But there’s really no time to think about that now if that druid is going to come back soon, he needs to get both of them out of here right now, and contact Lance so he can get to safety as well. So he smiles at Keith, says, “Yeah. I’ll get us to safety first, and then we can talk about what’s happening, alright?” and picks him up, holding him with his human arm securely while keeping his Galra arm ready to transform into a weapon if needed. He taps his communicator and tells Lance that he’s got Keith and is going to get him out and gets a quick “Roger that!” before the line goes silent and Shiro concentrates on getting himself and Keith out of here.

The looks he gets when he returns with a child in his arms are full of surprise, shock and confusion and he shakes his head slightly, motioning for them to let it be for now and talk about it later. Keith has gripped his armor with one hand, his knife with the other, and is currently hiding his face in the hollow of Shiro’s neck, refusing to look up. He must’ve noticed that there are others around, but is only pressing against Shiro even tighter. Looks like the little guy might be shy. Pidge’s eyes lighten up in understanding, though she still seems at a loss as to how exactly they got there.

“Alright everyone,” she says, starting Green. “We’re going back now, hold tight!”

By the time they arrive at the castle, Keith’s breathing has evened out and the grip he had on Shiro’s arm has loosened while the grip on his knife is almost desperately vice-like.

“He’s asleep,” the black paladin tells the others quietly as not to wake Keith. “I’ll tuck him in and explain everything…” He leaves before they can voice any kind of protest or confusion and brings Keith to his room for now. He knows the younger paladin hasn’t been here at all lately, he’s rather been with his pack, but officially it’s still Keith’s room and Shiro has a feeling that it wouldn’t bode well for any of them if he was to bring Keith to the other Galras like this.

He’ll have to pick them up on his way back to the others. They had to stay behind, because they were too worked up for a rescue mission at the enemy’s headquarters. Thankfully, at least Kolivan had been self-reflective enough to see, that, should they come along, the whole mission might be in danger, and thankfully the others listened to him, no matter how grudgingly they did so. Shiro has promised them not to come back without Keith; but how is he going to explain to them that their kit is… well, a kid now? He doesn’t even know what has happened, all he knows is that he thinks the druids capable of anything -and more- he can think of. He just hopes they will take the news in stride so they can all start looking for a solution to this… problem.

Not that the child in his arms has been any trouble until now. He’s perfectly behaved, and as Shiro tucks him in, he can’t wipe the smile from his face at seeing the little boy relaxed and content, still clutching the knife to his chest as he snuggles into the blanket in his sleep until only a bit of his face and his hair poke out. He takes the time to stay with him just a few moments longer, watching over him until he can be sure that the little guy is not going to wake too soon; he wants to be here when that happens, since this is a new environment, in space, and Keith doesn’t seem to remember anything. This must be scary for him, and Shiro feels the urge to be there for him, now that he can, stronger than ever. And he thought it was already strong when he first met an unruly, 14-year-old cadet with more skills than he should have had and a problem with authorities. Back from day one, when he’d first seen the defiance in those -actually quite expressive- blue-ish grey eyes, and the loneliness the boy tried to hide behind it, he’d felt the need to protect him, somehow. He’d befriended him, and then he’d become the big brother Keith had so sorely needed, someone to look up to and to turn to when he needed advice…

Enough. Right now, he needs to explain everything to the others. Not that he can explain much; but they need to be brought up to date. And the other Galras will be relieved to have him back anyway. Shiro makes his way to the room everyone by now is only referring to as ‘the den’; sometimes, very rarely and only ever under certain circumstances, one or another paladin ends up here. The black paladin knocks and he doesn’t have to wait long. Almost immediately the door is torn open by Thace. The Galra looks like he’s been restless, building up more and more energy until he became the nervous wreck standing before Shiro now. One of his eyes is twitching.

“Shiro!” he exclaims, and pulls him inside. “What’s happened? Where’s Keith?!”

Shiro raises his hands. “We did bring him back,” he says, and adds, before they can interrupt him, “But it’s complicated and you can’t see him right now. I have to explain some things first…” He looks around. “Where are Antok and Kolivan?”

“Kolivan had to take Antok for a… training match,” Ulaz replies quietly. “Or he would’ve gone mad. Keith,” he stresses. “What about him? Is he injured? What happened?”

“Keith is… alright. He isn’t injured.” Shiro shakes his head. “I don’t really understand what’s going on, either. But I’ll explain everything as best I can once we’re back in the common room with the others, okay? You don’t have to worry about Keith for now. He’s just sleeping.”

Thace nods. “Alright then; as a part of his pack, I trust you.” His hands are still clenching and unclenching at his sides, though, desperate to do anything to get rid of the nervous energy. He’ll probably be the next one to need a good sparring match if the situation doesn’t resolve soon. “I’ll go get Antok and Kolivan, you two go ahead and we’ll be right there,” he says before he all but darts from the room.

It doesn’t take much longer until they’re all sitting in the common room; all of the others looking to Shiro for an explanation he can’t give. He tries his best anyway.

“…And I don’t know the reason for any of this, but I’m sure we can figure it out and find a way to help him. We’ll simply have to adapt for now,” he finishes, with all the quiet confidence of a leader, even though he’s at a loss himself. He looks to the Galras. “I just think, that, considering all that we know at this point and Keith having lost his memory for the time being -or rather, having the memory of the child he is- you shouldn’t just… burst in there, because giant space cats might scare him. No offense.”

“Non taken,” Kolivan replies. “But we will not just stand by and do nothing. I understood the situation when it came to infiltrating the enemy’s headquarters. I understood how we might have endangered the mission, since this is about Keith and we’re very protective of our own, especially kits. I understood the need to stand back, then, but our instincts will not allow us to do so much longer, not if he’s here. We have to make sure that he is alright.”

Shiro nods. “Of course. He seems to trust me; maybe I can tell him about you and take him to meet you…? Though, maybe we shouldn’t tell him everything quite yet. We can not tell him what happened and how he’s actually 18… Since he’s just a little kid right now, that would probably overwhelm him...”

“I appreciate that you’re looking out for him. We will not tell him anything about him being a part of the pack for now.” These words are rather directed at his fellow Galras and carry an air of finality that is not going to be questioned. “I agree to your offer. It seems to be the best thing to do for now.”

“I still wonder what exactly happened,” Ulaz mutters, more to himself than any of the others. He looks up at Shiro sharply. “You said you think the druids have something to do with it?”

Shiro can only nod again. “I do. I don’t know what exactly they could’ve done, but… from experience, I think that they’re capable of anything.”

Ulaz lets out a low growl at that, an angry sound if you’ve ever heard one, that is underlined by the fact that he has never lost his composure like this before. The Galra closes his eyes and takes a few deep breaths to calm himself before speaking. “I know what it might have been. Back when I stayed with them undercover, I have never been part of that particular team. But I do know that they were working on age regression. The plan was, as far as I know, to turn Galra prisoners and rebels into kits to raise them in loyalty of the Empire. I didn’t think they would ever succeed…”

“So… what?” Lance asks, dumbfounded. “Can we… y’know, undo that?”

“We have to,” Pidge chimes in. “We can’t leave him like that. We need Keith as the red paladin!”

“And so help me,” Hunk adds. “But having him around as a little kid is gonna be so weird…”

“I will do whatever is necessary to undo whatever it is the druids have done to Keith,” Ulaz says. “They can’t have perfected the technique yet. There has to be a way to reverse it…” He looks at Pidge. “Will you help me with that?”

The green paladin nods gravely. “Of course,” she replies.

“Me too,” Hunk chimes in, “if I can, I mean.”

Ulaz nods at both of them. “I appreciate that. We’ll do some tests on Keith later and see what we can do for him…”

The three of them wander off, already discussing among themselves what needs to be done first. Lance is next, wandering off muttering about how this has to be a strange dream and he’s just going to go and sleep so he can wake up to normalcy. Thace gives Kolivan a pleading look and the older Galra nods, no actual words required; they leave for a sparring match. Which leaves Antok, who has been unusually quiet through all of it.

“You have to let me see him,” he tells Shiro. There’s a desperation in his eyes and voice the black paladin has never seen before. He takes pity on him.

“Alright,” he says, sighing. “I was going to check up on him anyway, make sure he’s still asleep… You can come along, but you really should let me go in first; if he’s asleep there should be no harm… But you can’t wake him.”

The Galra agrees to that easily enough and they make their way to Keith’s room. Shiro goes in first, confirms that the kid is still fast asleep and motions for Antok to come in. The Galra doesn’t make a sound, but the way his expression softens, sad and intimate at the same time, makes Shiro feel like an intruder.

“We should’ve been closer,” Antok whispers, as not to wake the sleeping child. “We should’ve seen what Lotor was doing. We should have known that Keith’s temper could get him into trouble. We should never have let them take him from us.”

Shiro shakes his head. “It’s nobody’s fault,” he replies just as quietly. “Or it’s everybody’s. None of us saw through Lotor’s plans; the important thing is that he didn’t succeed in the end, because we got Keith out of there before he could do him any real harm…”

“Any real harm?” Antok hisses. “What do you think this is, if not harm?! They turned him into a child even by human standards! They made him forget about us…”

Before Shiro can reply, the child in question moves in his sleep before his breathing quickens just that little bit that tells them that he’s awake, even though he hasn’t opened his eyes yet. Shiro’s attention is drawn by that and by the time he turns back to Antok, the Galra is gone. He did promise to not show himself to Keith just yet… Shiro goes to one knee in front of the bed, lightly ruffling Keith’s hair.

“Hey there, buddy,” he says with a little smile. “You awake?” A slight shake of the dark mob of hair is his only answer, making him grin. “But how can you respond to me if you’re still asleep?”

Big, blue-ish grey eyes open slowly. “Was nice…” he says.

“Hm?” Shiro tilts his head.

“Touching my hair…”

Oh. That. This. This is not adorable. (It is.)

The black paladin smiles. “I can do that again, if you want to…?”

They end up sitting on the bed together, Keith all but plastered to Shiro’s side -the paladin is glad he took the time to pull off his armor before, now- while Shiro, putting an arm around him, keeps petting his hair. When he woke this morning he surely didn’t think that the day would end like this, but he honestly doesn’t mind. When the little sound he knows to be a Galra one escapes the kid’s lips, he is not surprised; it’s just one of those sounds Keith sometimes makes when he’s honestly enjoying something. Keith, on the other hand, freezes and proceeds to hide his face in Shiro’s shirt.

The black paladin gently pats his back. “Hey,” he says. “It’s okay. Totally natural, alright? I’ll explain it all to you tomorrow… It’s nothing weird…”

Blue-ish grey eyes peek up at him. “Really?”

“Really,” he smiles; then hums, deciding to change the topic. “When was the last time you ate something, buddy? I bet you’re hungry…” Keith nods into his shirt.

“I’m a bit hungry…” he admits, his voice muffled through Shiro’s shirt.

“Alright then, c’mon and we’ll get you something from the kitchen. I bet there’s leftovers from lunch… Hunk is a really good cook, you’ll like his food.”

“Who’s Hunk?”

A hum. “He’s a part of the team. I’ll explain everything tomorrow, once we’ve both had some sleep, okay? All you need to know for now is that he’s a really good cook, and he’s really tall, but also really kind. Everybody here is; kind, I mean. You don’t need to be scared of anybody here, okay?”

“…Okay.”

Keith still holds Shiro’s hand tightly as they make their way to the kitchen.

Afterwards, once he’s brought the child back to his room, he searches the built-in-cupboard for a shirt the little guy can wear to sleep in -the pants won’t fit at all so he’ll has to keep his for now- and helps him to get changed and settled. He stays until he’s sure that Keith is asleep before heading to his own bed.

***

The next morning, checking up on Keith is the first thing he does upon waking. The little guy is awake already, sitting with the blanket around his shoulders, tracing the shape of his knife with a finger. He looks up when the door opens and smiles a little, shyly.

“Good morning…”

“Morning, buddy!” Shiro replies with a bright smile. “Are you hungry enough for breakfast yet?” The boy nods. “Alright then,” the black paladin says, holding out his hand. “Come with me.”

Keith obediently hops down from the bed and takes the offered hand, holding his knife with the other. It doesn’t look like he ever lets go of it. Before they enter the dining room, Shiro stops and smiles at Keith, who’s looking up at him somewhat confused. He goes down to one knee and ruffles the boy’s hair.

“I wanted to tell you before you actually meet them,” he says. “There’s going to be a few people in there. There’s Lance and Hunk, who’re two boys, and Pidge, who’s a girl. But…” He hesitates. “You already know that we’re in space, right?”

A nod.

“So… There’s… Aliens here, too. Not bad ones!” He hurries to add. “They’re all very nice. A few of them just look very different from what you’re used to.”

There’s a pause. Keith doesn’t look like he’s going to panic; rather thoughtful. “What do they look like?” he asks eventually.

Shiro smiles. “Like big cats… violet cats. Or rather, human-cat-hybrids. They’re all very nice, and they won’t do anything to hurt you, they’re just… different.”

“Oh… Okay. Can we go in then?”

“Of course.” The older paladin stands, relieved to see Keith taking it in stride like this, but stops when there’s a little tug at his hand. “What is it?”

“You’ll stay with me, right?” Keith’s voice sounds smaller, more quiet. Maybe a bit scared or nervous. Shiro’s heart breaks a little at hearing it and he gently squeezes the tiny hand in his.

“Of course,” he says again. “I won’t leave your side if that helps you…”

Since it’s still early, Lance isn’t up yet -and he won’t be for a while. Pidge, Hunk and Ulaz are sitting at the table, no trace of Allura or Coran. Maybe it’s better like this, though Shiro is still glad he warned Keith beforehand. Even so, upon seeing them all, the child freezes -as do the others for a moment- and proceeds to hide behind the black paladin, clinging to his leg. Shiro blinks, but unexpectedly it’s Hunk who moves before Shiro can. He comes over and goes down to one knee to be at eye level with Keith, smiling one of his open, friendly smiles.

“Hey there, buddy,” he says, with the ease of a big brother, reminding all of them of his big family. He holds out a hand. “I’m Hunk. What’s your name?”

Blue-ish grey eyes peek out from their hiding place (namely, Shiro’s leg). “Keith,” he mutters, hesitates a little, but eventually shakes the offered hand.

Hunk hums. “Keith. That’s a good name.” He beams. “Hi, Keith! You want something to eat? I bet you’re hungry!”

Keith nods. “A bit…”

“Well,” Hunk grins. “Good thing I made some extra toast today, then. D’you like toast with butter?”

Of course he does, but Hunk isn’t supposed to know that quite yet, so he plays along for now until the little boy is more comfortable. He’s rewarded by the kid coming out of hiding, looking at him with what can only be described as shiny eyes, his shyness forgotten for the moment.

“I like that!”

He’s so unlike the Keith Hunk knows that it’s not even hard to pretend that this is just another little kid, not their teammate. He’s relaxed slightly and lets himself be led to the table. With a bit of prompting, he greets Pidge as well and then stares at Ulaz, trying very hard to look like he’s not exactly looking at him. To everybody’s surprise, the Galra’s expression softens and his lips curl into a small smile.

“Hello, little one,” he says, making Keith pout.

“’m not little!”

Ulaz nods slowly. “Of course. How old did you say you were again?”

The boy holds up a hand. “…Five. And a half.”

“I see… You really are not a little one anymore, then…” The Galra sounds slightly amused, though Keith doesn’t seem to notice that. Instead, he straightens a little, seemingly satisfied with that answer. Through breakfast he relaxes more, until he’s not plastering himself to Shiro’s side anymore. His knife is in his lap but his legs are swinging back and forth like they did when Shiro first met him (well, first, this time around, at least).

Ulaz keeps talking to him, finding Keith more than just a little interested. The boy listens as the Galra explains a lot of their culture, their celebrations, values and, since it seems to work, about packs in general and his pack especially, too.

“I could introduce you to them, if you like…” Ulaz says, prompted by the longing in the boy’s eyes. This is working far better than any of them would have thought; though maybe that’s because at age 5 -5 and a half- Keith has still been innocent and mostly just a normal child. The boy opens his mouth to answer, but is interrupted by Lance.

The blue paladin bursts into the room, startling Keith and making him cling to Shiro in a bid to hide again.

“GUYS!” he shouts, “You won’t believe what just happened!” He pauses, taking in the room, his eyes eventually landing on Keith. “Oh…”

“And this, Keith,” Shiro says, somewhat amused, “is Lance.”

“He can be a bit weird sometimes, but he’s nice,” Pidge adds.

Keith peeks out from where he’s been hiding, looking at the blue paladin, who gives him the best smile he’s capable off at the moment.

“Uh… hi, uh, buddy…?”

Keith tilts his head. “You’re weird,” he decides.

“Hey!”

Pidge snickers. “Children and fools tell the truth… Anyway, what has you barging in here like a maniac in the first place?”

“Oh, right! You guys have to see this! It’s… I can’t explain it; I was on my way to check on Blue before breakfast when I noticed…” He leads the way out and the others follow along, Keith still clinging to Shiro’s hand, even though he doesn’t seem as nervous as before anymore.

Shiro squeezes the little hand reassuringly and smiles at Keith, letting him know without words that everything is fine even though Lance interrupted their breakfast like that. He raises an eyebrow when the blue paladin takes an unexpected turn -this way will lead them to Red, not Blue. “Lance?” he asks.

“I said I can’t explain it,” comes the answer. “I don’t know why I went to check up on her, too…” He opens the door to Red’s chamber and everybody freezes in confusion for a moment -everyobdy but Keith, who is fine but then hesitates, insecure at the others’ reactions.

In the middle of the chamber lies the red lion -or rather, the red cub. Red seems to have shrunk and, all in all, isn’t much taller than Keith right now. She raises her head when the door opens, stands, stretches and comes over curiously; the boy immediately lets go of Shiro’s hand, mesmerized, and goes forward to meet her. He’s sniffed, then nuzzled, and smiles brightly before starting to cuddle her, forgetting about the others for the moment.

Shiro taps his communicator and asks Allura for help. Hopefully she’ll know what’s happening. And it doesn’t take long for her to arrive; she takes one look at the playing cub and kit and hums.

“This is quite a surprise…” she murmurs. “And then again, not.”

“How do you mean?” Shiro asks.

“Well, you see,” Allura explains, “This is just proof of the red lion still being bound to Keith -it merely changed its form to accommodate him… It’s a good thing for us, since it means that their connection is still intact.”

“And… that’s a good thing?” Pidge asks. “We won’t be able to form Voltron like this…”

“I believe the red lion will go back to normal as soon as Keith does,” Allura reassures. She looks at the boy who’s still playing with Red, not paying any attention at all to anything else, and smiles. “He’s adorable like that, isn’t he?” She sighs. “It is, indeed, just worrying that you can not form Volrton like this...” She turns to Ulaz, Pidge and Hunk. “Do you have any ideas how to help him yet?”

Ulaz shakes his head. “Ideas, yes, but we can’t be sure that any of them will work until we’ve done some tests…” He looks at Shiro. “I’d like to take him soon, if that’s alright with you…?”

The black paladin nods. “The sooner we get him back to normal, the better.” He smiles. “And he seems to trust you already; do you think it’ll be alright if I leave him with you while you do that? It’d be best if I figured out our next course of action with Allura as soon as possible…”

“And maybe you’ll want to take him to Coran before that…” Allura adds. She frowns slightly. “Whatever is he wearing right now?”

“Ah, I didn’t have anything else… It’s one of Keith’s shirts, but of course it’s too big on him right now.” Shiro smiles sheepishly. “I didn’t want to leave him in what he had on when we got him out of there…”

The princess hums. “Understandable… We should find something his size, though… Coran should be able to help with that…”

And that’s what they do. Shiro calls Keith back to them and introduces him to Allura; the little boy blushes at first and hides behind him again, but is lured out of hiding by the princess’s kind words and voice. He even agrees to go with Ulaz, trustingly taking the Galra’s hand instead of Shiro’s.

He takes him to Coran first, which is… enlightening, exhilirating, and enthralling at the same time. To his surprise, the Altean owns all kinds of clothes in all kinds of sizes, and even though his loud, boisterous personality intimidates Keith at first, the kit stays calm with Ulaz at his side.

The Galra doctor silently wonders if this is because, even though he doesn’t know right now, Keith is still a part of the pack. His own instincts surely haven’t lessened; he still feels protective of his kit and relieved to see him healthy and unharmed.

For now none of that matters; he leads the way to the infirmary and has Keith sitting on the cot.

“What are you going to do?” the little boy asks.

Ulaz smiles. “I am merely going to take a little blood from you for now…”

The boy tilts his head. “Am I sick? I don’t feel sick…” He frowns a little, looking down. “But I do weird things sometimes…” Big, blue-ish grey eyes look back up at the Galra doctor hopefully. “Can you fix that? So people don’t think I’m weird and send me back to the orphanage?”

Ulaz knows exactly what the child is talking about. And it is not often that he loses his composure, but right now he has to turn around to regain it; he pretends to search for what he’ll need to take Keith’s blood and takes a deep breath before he answers.

“I can not do that, little one…” He turns back to Keith, meeting his eyes. “Because there is nothing wrong with you. Nothing at all.”

“But-“

“No.” The child looks at him defiantly -a look that is all Keith no matter his age- and then away, his eyes watering, and Ulaz sighs. “I don’t mean to upset you… Let me explain?” He sits next to Keith and waits until the boy nods before putting a reassuring hand on his back. He takes a moment to gather his thoughts before he speaks.

“Nothing is wrong with you, I promise. You’re simply different than others.”

Keith sniffles a little and dries his eyes with his sleeve. “How?”

“Well, you’re…” He has to tell him now. Not everything, of course, Kolivan’s order still stands. But every single instinct he has tells him to reassure the kit and he can not go against those, either.

“It’s because you are like us.” He pauses. “Your knife,” he says, lightly tapping the blade the boy is still holding to his chest with a finger. “You got it from you mother, did you not?”

Keith nods. “It’s why I have to take really good care of it…”

“That’s good,” Ulaz smiles. “But do you see that symbol? It’s a Galra one; your mother must have been one of us, which makes you at least half Galra. Now, obviously, appearance-wise you take after your father, but you could have a few Galra instincts… or you make unusual sounds sometimes, perhaps?”

He has known about this already, of course, but the stricken look on Keith’s face still gets to him. Suddenly Ulaz worries that this has been too much for the boy after all. “Keith?” he asks, cautiously.

Big, blue-ish grey eyes look up at him and suddenly fill with tears that spill over after all and Ulaz’s heart breaks for the boy. Pulling him closer he hushes him gently, eventually picking him up to hold him against his chest, doing his best to calm him. The kit just clings to him for a while and cries, and Ulaz thinks to himself that maybe this had to happen anyway, that Keith has been far too calm and accepting in face of everything that has happened to him and that it is good he has this outlet. He waits until the boy has calmed down enough to go on.

“So I’m not weird?” Keith asks once the tears have stopped and the sobs have become hiccups before they, too, abated. Ulaz can’t help it, he nuzzles the kit’s hair.

“No, little one, of course not. You are perfectly healthy and behaving as you should. Nothing weird about any of that,” he replies firmly.

Keith pouts again. “I’m not little!”

“Of course.”

***

The few quick tests Ulaz can carry out don’t reveal anything yet; he’ll have to take a closer look at the results later, maybe with Hunk and Pidge, but for now this will have to do. Keith has been practially bombarding him with questions about the pack and the other Galras and Ulaz has been happy to answer whatever he could. For now there is nothing more to be done -none of his blood levels show any abnormalities and from what the doctor can gather, Keith should be fine in every sense of the word. So, until he can think of something else to do, he’ll finally fully give in to the instincts that are urging him to get Keith to the nest, where he, in this form just as much as in any other, belongs.

“We’re done here, Keith,” he tells the child. “Would you like to meet the other Galras now?”

The bright smile he gets in return is answer enough; the small hand that weasels its way into his own further confirmation of the boy’s trust. The part of Ulaz that has long since accepted him as his kit to look after and has been aching since Keith’s abduction warms and heals a little more.

All of them are there, which is good because finally they are all together again and finally they are able to relax. The boy is silent and a little hesitant, but he doesn’t freeze as he did this morning and he doesn’t try to hide behind Ulaz, either. The doctor wonders if this is because Keith knows all of them more deeply than the other paladins and the Alteans. Pack bonds are something special, and he is not entirely sure, but thinks that might be a reason for Keith to trust them, even though he doesn’t know it right now.

“Keith,” Ulaz says, calmly, to reassure him. “These are Kolivan, Thace and Antok.”

The boy smiles shyly. “Hello…”

The others return the smile and greet him, but don’t come forward yet, unsure about what exactly he knows.

“We found out that Keith here is part Galra, so he wanted to meet you,” the Galra doctor explains, meaningfully.

“Is he, now?” Antok hums, playing along. He goes down to one knee to be closer to Keith’s eye level and holds out a hand to him, smiling. “Do you want to come here?”

Keith thinks about that, looking up at Ulaz who gives him an encouraging nod, and eventually lets go of the doctor’s hand to cross the room. When he reaches Antok, the tall Galra pulls him into a careful hug, nuzzling his hair. Keith lets out a little, longing whine at that and promptly freezes, hiding his face against the Galra’s neck. It seems knowing the truth doesn’t do a lot to habits learned over years; not that soon anyway.

“Hush, little one. It’s alright, it’s natural,” Antok reassures and returns a purr of his own, at which Keith looks up with big eyes.

“Are you sure?” he whispers, and Antok smiles and nuzzles him again.

“Of course I am. It’s just your Galra instincts talking…”

The boy tilts his head. “Talking? What do they say?”

Antok grins at that, though it’s a little bit sad. “They say that you’ve been lonely. That you’ve been missing other Galras. But it’s alright now, we’ll take care of you…”

“You won’t bring me back to the orphanage?”

It saddens all of them to hear the hope in his voice, as well as the flicker of doubt he already seems to have, even at such a young age. He’s scared of being left behind already; how often did that happen to make him feel that way? Thace fights the sadness in his very own way. He ruffles Keith’s hair and smiles that bright, sunny smile of his.

“You can stay with us from now on. No more orphanages. Promise, kit.”

Keith does look very happy at that and at the same time like he can’t quite believe that yet. They will simply have to show him. Maybe, Ulaz thinks to himself, this isn’t as bad as they thought at first. It is, of course, regarding their fight. Not being able to form Voltron will weaken them considerably after all. But, regarding Keith himself? If they couldn’t return him to his original state, it could spare him so much harm and suffering. He could grow up happily from now on, in a loving family, in a pack. Like he should. Of course Ulaz will still try his best. For the universe, and because he doesn’t think this would be what Keith -the older one they all know- would want. But still.

***

Keith falls into his place in the pack almost seemlessly after that. He stays with Antok most of the time in the following days, seemingly having taken him to his heart. Which is no surprise as those two have always been quite close, but still endearing to the others as more often than not the tall Galra is seen carrying the kit on his shoulders or sitting with him in his lap, answering his many questions. It turns out that 5 year old Keith, once he has settled some more, is very curious. Antok doesn’t mind, and neither does anybody else.

For the first two nights, the boy still sleeps in his room, but eventually he starts falling asleep in the arms of any member of the pack and is simply taken to the nest where he snuggles up to them with a lot less fuss than 18 year old him has ever made. Keith is happy these days, and, as a result, the rest of the pack and team Voltron in general are happy, too.

It comes the day where Keith wakes Antok early, careful not to disturb the others. The boy looks weirdly embarrassed and after a cat-like yawn, once Antok is a ittle more awake, he catches on to that. He makes a soft, questioning sound and Keith returns a worried one himself. He reaches behind himself and turns the Galra’s attention to his back. Antok blinks. Looks closer. Blinks again. There is a tiny stub tail poking out of the kit’s pants, the fur as black as the rest of his hair and his transformed ears. Antok purrs proudly and ruffles Keith’s hair, letting him know that it’s not a bad thing. When the boy whines at that, the others finally rouse and after a few minutes of waking, stretching and yawning, everybody is brought up to date and all of them try to hug, nuzzle and reassure him at once. The room is filled with proud purrs for a while as they almost smother him, but it seems to be the right thing to do. Keith relaxes and eventually starts purring himself, and once they’ve all calmed down a little, they sit -Keith in Antok’s lap- and tell him that it’s not a bad thing, that it’s actually something Galra parents are very proud of.

“It means you’re growing up,” Thace explains and Ulaz adds, “And it probably won’t stay a stub tail, either.”

“Will I have one like Antok?” the boy asks excitedly.

Kolivan hums. “It depends on what kind of tail your Galra parent had…”

“But I’m sure it will be a good tail regardless.” Antok ruffles Keith’s hair a little and the kit makes a content little sound in the back of his throat and snuggles up to his chest.

“I hope my tail is going to be like yours…”

Nobody cares to explain to him yet that, to have a tail like Antok, he would have to be actually related to him.

***

The rest of team Voltron reacts quite well to the news of Keith now having a tail. Of course there’s a bit of confusion at first, but seeing as all the Galras even seem to be proud of him and Keith himself is obviously calm and even happy about it, they let it go easily enough. Besides, it’s not like it changes anything about Keith. They do wonder among themselves, though, if he’ll still have a tail once he’s back to normal. Little Keith is happy, but older Keith? He might not be that amused about the whole thing.

As it is, Keith is young and happy, and while they keep looking for a way to return him to his normal state, they also adjust his clothes to accommodate his tail, at least for now, if not longer.

It works fine like this for a few more days, Keith -and the rest of team Voltron apart from the Galras- getting used to his tail. It grows, very slowly but constantly, as well.

There’s a few missions, but luckily enough they don’t need Voltron for those; one or two of the lions are usually enough. Their allies are another kind of problem, though. They’ve been working hard on getting different planets -or rather, their inhabitants- to side with them, so that when the day comes that they have to fight the last battle, the Galra Empire will not only face Voltron, but entire galaxies. The easiest way to convince them is to show them Voltron. Seeing the icon that fights for the universe, the warrior of the legends, usually gives the undecided ones the hope and courage needed to join the battle. However, with a maximum of four lions they can not form Voltron, and thus keep loosing potential allies. They can’t make public what happened to Keith, though. The Empire would hear about it and know that they’re weakened, and their allies might falter even more.

Yet Ulaz still can’t find anything wrong with Keith’s readings, no matter how often he looks them over.

“There’s nothing wrong here. He should be himself…” he mutters.

“Maybe we’re just not looking for the right things?” Pidge suggests.

Hunk sighs. “But what else should we be looking at? We’ve been going through this again and again these last few days.”

“Yeah, but what else are we supposed to do? We need to get Keith back to normal, and soon; Shiro and Lance are holding out till now, but there’ll come the time where we’ll really need Voltron again!” The green paladin sounds frustrated, and anxious, because any day now Lotor could attack again, and the longer they wait the more likely a full on attack will become. And they’ll need Voltron, then. They’ll need Keith, the one they all know, no matter how adorable and happy the little him is. She bangs her fist on the table. “We need Keith, dammit!”

There’s a pause after that, both Ulaz and Hunk not knowing what to say to her outburst.

“…Hey guys?” Hunk asks after a few moments of deafening silence. “Is there anything speaking against just putting him into a cryo pod? It won’t harm him, will it? I mean, those things just heal -so if there’s anything to heal, it might help, right?”

Ulaz blinks. “You want to…” He pauses. “Hold on, that might even work.”

“Hunk, you’re a genius!” Pidge beams.

“Oh you know, I try…”

***

The only problem is how to get Keith in there. They can’t tell him what happened to him, not when he’s that happy to be the way he is. And he’s not sick, not really, so there’s no other reason for him to go in. So, feeling slightly guilty, they tell him that it’s a game. And Keith, trustingly, goes along, excited for something new to play.

For an hour, nothing happens. After another one Pidge notes that it might take days and goes to get some sleep after not having had enough lately, and Hunk soon follows her. One after the other, all of them leave to take care of other urgent business, seeing as they can’t exactly do much here right now. The Galra remain. That is, until a loud bang interrupts the otherwise peaceful, if not boring, silence. The castle’s blueish-white lights turn red and an alarm starts blaring, calling all of them to the bridge immediately.

Another resounding bang. The walls, the control panel and even the cryo pod shake, and then there’s a blackout, every lamp goes out, every sound stops for a few moments, before the auxiliary power units turn on.

The cryo pod, however, has already initiated emergency protocol.

Keith wakes to chaos, in a place that looks dangerous at best. He has no idea how he got here; he doesn’t even know where ‘here’ is. He’s wearing a strange, grey suit that’s actually too small for him -the arms and legs are too short, anyway. A hissing sound behind him catches his attention and he turns around to see some kind of tank that’s slowly lowering itself into the floor.

There’s something he thinks might be an alarm blaring and red lamps bathe the room in an eerie light. He grabs his knife that has fallen out of the tank with him, thankfully, clutches it to his chest, grateful to at least have it with him. This must be a very weird dream -but then again, it feels so real... Though some dreams just do. Anyway, dream or not, he doesn’t feel like he can stay here. There’s nowhere to hide and both, his instincts and experience, tell him to do just that.

He doesn’t even know if he’s alone here, but just in case he’s not it’s better not to be found. He might be just ten, but he’s learned that lesson rather thoroughly already. If they can’t find you, they can’t hurt you. It’s one of the most important rules right up there with number one: Don’t trust anybody. He’ll have to go look for a hiding place, and see if he can find some kind of window, so he’ll know where he is at least. Maybe there’s an exit somewhere. Though the only place he could go back to would be Ma and Pa’s…

Not that he won’t wake sometime, he reminds himself. This is a dream. It has to be, right? This doesn’t even look like a normal house… He opens the door -it slides to the side with a quiet, hissing sound as if this was some kind of science fiction movie- and peeks out. There’s no one there, so he slips out of the room and down a corridor with really high ceilings. Definitely not just a normal house. The alarm is still blaring and even here all lights have turned red, so he goes looking for the first room he can find. Anything is better than being caught right here.

The first door he finds opens much like the other one, sliding sideways into the wall and closing the same way behind him. This seems to be some kind of storage room, lots of boxes of different sizes stacked on top of each other -perfect. In this kind of place are a lot of good spots to hide. He crosses the room, looking for a good hiding spot and finds one at the end of the room, in one of the corners. Nobody who comes in will be able to see him from the door -in fact, they probably wouldn’t be able to see him even if they were searching for him. Keith smiles a satisfied, grim little smile and carefully squeezes into a gap between two stacks of boxes.

Which is when he freezes. This is a dream, and he has been busy with surveying his surroundings, not having paid much attention to himself, since nothing felt out of ordinary -he didn’t even hurt anywhere! But now as he makes about to actually sit down, he notices something that makes him forget about this being a dream. His eyes widen and his breath quickens until he’s almost hyperventilating.

He has a tail.

***

As soon as they manage to ward off the enemie’s attack -which, of course they do; they’re still Team Voltron after all- Antok promptly makes his way back to the cryo pods. There’s been a short blackout and the Galra can’t help but worry over Keith. If they’re lucky, nothing happened and the kit is still where they left him, but he has a bad feeling, as if someone will get to Keith before he does; someone who intents to harm him. He knows very well that no enemy was able to enter the castle, but his instincts urge him to go and make sure. He almost runs to the room and freezes in the doorway.

There is no cryo pod. Which means that they weren’t as lucky as he’s hoped. Where could he have wandered off to? Is it too much to hope that maybe it worked…? But Keith, if he was back to normal, would have come straight to the bridge if he woke to the alarms. Not for the first time Antok is glad for his good sense of smell. He sniffs the air and finds the most recent trace belonging to Keith; it’s heavy with fear, though, which causes him to turn around and follow it with a worried frown.

The rest of the pack has caught up with him by now but he ignores their questions, going straight for Keith. They will be able to figure it out just as he did, and they do, following him a moment later, each with worried frowns of their own. The trace Antok follows leads to one of the storage rooms near the cryo pod chamber. He opens the door, cautiously, not sure what to expect, and is met with the most intense scent of fear he might ever have encountered. It’s suffocating. He swallows and calls out for his kit quietly.

“Keith?”

His only anwer is a gasp from one of the corners and he carefully makes his way over to where the small sound has come from. The other members of the pack stay outside for now. Antok tries to look reassuring as he rounds the last corner and sees their kit squeezed into the little space between two stacks of boxes, blinking once when he notices that, even though he is not five anymore, he isn’t 18, either. He looks like he did in the training simulation, back when the paladins fought their fears. Does that mean he is about 10, then? Does that mean he’s forgotten about them yet again? He hopes not but is disappointed when the boy’s eyes widen at his sight and he lets out a shriek. He’s shivering and trying to make himself as small as possible, a typical reaction for a Galra kit when encountering a threat. It makes Antok’s heart break, his instincts urging him to reassure, to comfort and soothe, but knowing he might not have a very good chance at that right now.

Still, he has to try. He can’t leave him like this. “Keith.” He speaks quietly, careful to sound as non-threatening as possible. “It’s alright. Nobody will hurt you.”

The boy just shakes his head and draws his knife, pointing it at him. That would be much more effective if his hand wasn’t shaking as much as the rest of him, but Antok is taken aback by the unexpected turn of events anyway, moving away a little to give him more space.

“N-No!” Keith stutters. “Go-Go ‘way!” He keeps muttering that, like a mantra, squeezing his eyes closed as he still points the knife at him. Antok sighs and complies. Moving away from his kit in this state almost hurts physically, but he can see that he won’t be able to do much good. Obviously, Keith has forgotten yet again about everything that happened and is, just as Shiro suspected, horrified at his first time seeing a Galra.

He shakes his head at the others’ questions once he’s out of the room, explaining to them what happened. Thace, being the fastest of them, runs to get Shiro since he might have the best chance at helping Keith right now. He’s the only one they can let near him, being a part of the boy’s pack -their instincts might not react that well to any of the others. The black paladin arrives just a few minutes later, looking just as worried as the rest of them.

“What happened?” he asks.

“We don’t know all of it, either,” Ulaz replies. “But apparently, Hunk’s idea did work. Just not as we thought… Keith seems to be about ten now, and he doesn’t remember us.”

“So he did not react well to seeing me,” Antok adds. “He looked scared to begin with, but I think now he’s having some kind of panic attack…”

Shiro nods grimly and doesn’t waste any more time, entering the storage room. He’s careful not to move too quietly, letting Keith know that somebody is coming. He moves slowly, too, and after a moment calls out to the boy with a soft voice. He doesn’t get an answer but he hasn’t expected one, anyway. When he sees Keith, the boy is pretty much curled into a ball, one shakey hand still clinging to his knife. Shiro frowns, worried that the boy might hurt himself in this state. He crouches down in front of him, not too close, and tries to get his attention again.

“Keith?” he asks. The boy in front of him still doesn’t react, seemingly too caught up in his own head to notice his surroundings. And Shiro hates doing this, knowing this might make things worse, but he can’t think of anything else to do. He puts a hand on Keith’s shoulder, saying his name again, but even the light touch makes the boy flinch. His head jerks up and wide, blue-ish grey eyes are fixed on Shiro’s without any sign of recognition. There’s only fear in those eyes, and it breaks the paladin’s heart to see what a difference a few years have made to the boy.

Five year old Keith -five and a half- was shy. Already somewhat wary, scared of being abandoned, but with enough reassurance he came out of his shell and trusted them. Five year old Keith was curious, a new question with everything new he laid his eyes upon. He reacted to the other Galra and the fact that he’s one himself so much better than they could have hoped and fell into his place in the pack naturally.

A few years older and he’s hiding in a storage room and having a panic attack. Shiro’s instincts tell him both, to pull back, to give the boy some space, and to pull Keith into his lap and sit with hin and help him to get his breathing under control before he passes out from hyperventilating. The black paladin does neither, instead staying where he is with his hand still on Keith’s shoulder. He holds the boy’s gaze and tries to convey calmness and safety.

“Keith,” he tries again. “My name is Shiro. I’m a soldier. You are safe here, okay? Just try to breathe, buddy, c’mon, breathe with me. I promise you nobody is going to hurt you.” He keeps talking like that until the boy, eventually, calms down, his breathing slowing until it doesn’t look and sound like he’ll pass out from it anymore. At least that’s what Shiro thinks. Brown, glassy eyes blink slowly, one, two, three times, his gaze clearing as he finds his way back into the here and now.

Shiro smiles. “Hey there, Keith,” he says. It still doesn’t get him the reaction he has hoped for. The boy tenses, angrily pushes off his hand and raises his knife again.

“Who are you?” he asks, warily, his voice not as firm as he probably wants it to be. “How do you know my… my name?”

Shiro backs off and raises his hands placatingly in an attempt to look reassuring. “My name is Shiro… Takashi Shirogane, but you can call me Shiro, everybody does. I’m a pilot with the Galaxy Garrison and-“ He doesn’t get much further; the boy’s eyes widening again.

“Shirogane?” he asks, interrupting, and Shiro doesn’t know if this is a good thing because Keith looks close to panicking again. How could a name set him off? It’s not like he has met Shiro before.

“You’re… You’re Takashi Shirogane,” the boy continues and swallows. “You… I saw you on the news, once… They said you’re an upcoming pilot with a lot of potential…” Oh, right. By the time Keith was ten Shiro must’ve been on the news already; that fits. He’d been a prodigy after all. The boy’s eyes narrow. “But your hair wasn’t white,” he says slowly, and his gaze flickers to Shiro’s metal arm. “And your… your hand…”

The older paladin sighs a little but smiles, hoping to ease some of the tension. “I got hurt on a mission,” he admits. “I… don’t know how much I should tell you, actually.” Silence spreads after that, Shiro not sure how to continue and Keith simply waiting for him to go on or leave.

“Hey, what do you say about we go somewhere more comfortable to talk?” It’s the wrong thing for the black paladin to say, obviously. The boy in front of him tenses and presses himself into the wall behind him, vehemently shaking his head and raising his knife again.

“I don’t wanna!” he replies, his voice shrill. His breathing is quickening, too, and Shiro silently chides himself for upsetting him when he just got him to calm down. He backs up a little, raising his hands.

“Hey,” he says, soothingly. “It’s okay. We don’t have to. We’ll… we’ll just stay here, okay? That good?” This is a mess. He shouldn’t be here; Hunk should, or maybe Lance, or, hell, even Pidge. She’s not as good with kids, but she’s the smallest and she might make feel Keith safer than Shiro does, with his height and his artifical arm. Leading Voltron into battle? No problem. Coaxing a shy five year old out of his shell? Worked a lot better than Shiro would ever have expected. But calming down a ten year old, panicking Keith and keeping him that way? Well…

“Are you… Are you hungry, maybe?” he asks, in an attempt to distract the boy. Keith immediately shakes his head.

“No,” he replies, a little too fast for Shiro’s liking to be truthful. A growling sound that comes from Keith’s stomach and has nothing to do with his Galra side proves his suspicions right; the boy tenses slightly again and hugs his knees more tightly.

“Keith,” Shiro says, as gently and quietly as he can. “It’s okay to admit that you’re hungry. Do you want me to get you something to eat? I’d tell you to come along to the kitchen, but it’s okay if you want to stay here. Whatever makes you feel more comfortable, buddy…”

Expressive blue-ish grey eyes narrow at him. “Why do you even care?” he asks, and well, that’s a good question. The answer would be simple -because he cares about Keith, because he has known him for a damn long time and he’s practically family for him, like a little brother. But he can’t tell him that now, since he doesn’t remember.

“I don’t like to see people distressed if I can help them, especially not kids,” is all the older paladin says instead. Keith huffs.

“’m not a kid,” he retorts, but he looks away and his words lack real conviction. Shiro is glad he isn’t looking at him; he can’t bite back a little smile at Keith’s behaviour. The smile fades when he realizes that the boy probably hasn’t been allowed to be a child for a long time now -as long as he’s been with those abusive adoptive parents at least. It’s no wonder he isn’t trusting anybody…

“Right… So, what would you like to eat? I can get you something, if you don’t want to come along…”

To his surprise Keith seems to consider it. Worries his lower lip between his teeth as he thinks, lowering his knife to his side though he doesn’t put the sheath back on. Then he shakes his head.

“I’m not hungry.”

Shiro sighs. “Keith, I know you are. You don’t even need to deny it, nobody is going to withhold it from you. I can get you whatever you’d like right now.”

To his surprise the boy just shakes his head again. “I don’t want to eat.” He is not looking at Shiro, though, and he sounds hesitant, as if there was something else troubling him. Why he is arguing like this is beyond the older paladin, but he doesn’t want to push, either, not when the boy has finally mostly relaxed and is talking to him. So he gives in for now.

“Alright, then. If you change your mind, just let me know.” He stands and dusts off his clothes a little. “I need something to eat, though…” Maybe if Keith realizes that Shiro is going to get himself something to eat no matter what and that it’s no problem to get Keith something along the way the boy will change his mind… Keith’s gaze flickers back to him when the older paladin stands, seemingly conflicted.

“Don’t!”

Shiro blinks at the exclamation and Keith blushes dark red and looks away, ducking his head.

“D-Don’t go,” he mutters, ashamed.

Oh.

“I can stay with you, if that makes you feel better,” Shiro says, treading carefully. “Would you like that?”

A tiny nod is all he gets for an answer; the boy doesn’t even look at him after that. At least he puts the sheath back on to hold his knife close to his chest, something Shiro has seen him doing even when he was five. That must be one important knife.

The silence weighs down on them, after that. At least that’s how Keith feels. He’s embarrassed and more than terrified of having shown this kind of weakness in front of anybody, even more so in front of an adult, even more so in front of the one adult he kind of looks up to, secretly. He saw Shirogane -Shiro- on the news one or two times and since that first time he wanted to grow up to be like him. A pilot, not bound to earth or anything to do with it.

But that was before. Before the man stood there, in flesh and blood. Now he’s just another adult, who could potentially hurt a ten year old really bad. He was never meant to actually meet him. He was meant to stay far away so Keith could admire him and work towards becoming a pilot just like him. Not that he has any chance, of course. He knows someone like him will never get anywhere near the space garrison. But sometimes it’s nice to dream.

And then he’s being so… nice, and Keith wonders where the catch is. When he’ll show his true colors. Adults are never nice to kids. Sometimes they pretend to be, but that never ends well. If you’re lucky they don’t care much about you and leave you alone. Though that doesn’t seem very likely, right now. Because Keith asked him to stay. Right. What a mess.

And he lied; of course he did. He’s hungry. Exhausted, too, because apparently freaking out like that makes you just want to sleep, but even more hungry. But he’s terrified at being alone here -what if that… thing comes back?- and he can’t leave, either, because apparently his body decided that sometimes making those weird sounds to let people know what a freak he is wasn’t enough and grew a freaking tail and--

His tummy rumbles again, an embarrassingly loud noise in the silence, and Keith hides his face against his knees. If he doesn’t react, maybe the adult will not react, either. And of course it’s not that easy.

“Keith, are you really sure you don’t want something to eat?” Shiro tries again. He doesn’t want to push him too much but he can’t stay silent anymore, either. That isn’t getting them anywhere. The boy shakes his head. At least he doesn’t straightout deny that he’s hungry anymore.

“Why don’t you tell me what the problem is? Maybe I could help… If it’s about safety, I promise that I’d protect you if you came to the kitchen with me. I’m strong. And you trust me at least a little, right? You asked me to stay… Not that you’d need protection, because nobody here is going to hurt you, but I’d stay with you just in case. If you want. We have some toast, and butter…” He adds the last thing in the hopes of finally getting the boy out of the storage room with promises of one of his favorite foods, but doesn’t get much more than a little sigh and another growl from the boy’s stomach at the mention of food. This really isn’t working at all, is it?

“Talk to me, Keith,” he almost begs. “I promise I’ll help you…” Which, obviously, was the wrong thing to say. The boy glares at him. And then he explodes.

“You can’t!” he shouts, all of a sudden. “I can’t go there! Everybody will see what a freak I am and-“ He pales, his brain catching up with his mouth, and freezes.

“Freak?” Shiro asks, treading carefully. “Keith, you’re not a freak. I promise.” He knows what this is about, has seen it many times before and even in the younger paladin’s training simulation. The boy has always been highly aware of the occasional Galra whines he just makes sometimes. He’s grown used to and more comfortable with it recently, in his real form, and it doesn’t really bother anyone, but the child before him doesn’t know about that. What he knows, however, is being returned to the orphanage over and over again for the sounds he has no control over. And then the abuse of those damn adoptive parents -he thinks Keith called them Ma and Pa- who beat him, among other things.

“Or,” he adds, “if you are a freak, then I am, too.” That does get him the kid’s attention.

“Why?” Keith asks, looking up at him.

Shiro hums. He didn’t want to upset the boy, but maybe he was wrong; maybe knowing this will make him more at ease. “Remember that I will never hurt you,” he still says, before he transforms his arm into its weapon form. To his surprise the boy looks intrigued at least, and maybe even amazed.

“That’s why.”

Keith frowns. “That’s cool, though, not freakish. Not like-“ He cuts himself off again but Shiro knows what he was probably going to say anyway.

The older paladin shakes his head. Opens his mouth to say something, then closes it when he realizes talking about this is way harder than he initially thought. He takes a deep breath.

“I… the people who did that… they did it against my will,” he finally says. “It hurt a lot and it still hurts, sometimes. They… they took my arm. Even though nothing was wrong with it. So. This is not my arm and it doesn’t feel like it. It just feels foreign. And it does make me feel like a freak sometimes.”

Keith’s eyes have widened as he has listened to Shiro’s words and isn’t that great, the older paladin thinks, he might have made him panic again.

Keith is having a little meltdown, innerly. He has never seen an adult show weakness like that before, and he has no idea how to react to it now that it’s happened. He wouldn’t know how to react even if it wasn’t an adult, to be honest. His mind goes blank for a moment there and he just sits and stares. When he gets back to his senses he notices Shiro looking at him alert, as if Keith was a wild animal that’s going to attack or flee the next moment. He frowns.

“You’re not a freak,” the boy says, and whoa, that isn’t what he’s meant to say at all! But his lips are moving, and more words are coming out, still not the ones he actually meant to say. “It doesn’t matter what others do to you so long as you don’t let it get to you. As long as they don’t break you, they don’t win.”

Shiro blinks, just as surprised as Keith himself is. The boy’s eyes look much older than they should, heavy with a dark, deep sadness that doesn’t belong in a ten-year-old’s eyes at all.

“Then you’re not, either,” he replies firmly. “And whoever told you that you are, is a dirty lier.” Keith opens his mouth to object, but Shiro doesn’t let him. “No,” he says. “I won’t let anybody say that about you. Not even yourself.” Keith looks away, his lips pressed into a thin line, but at least he doesn’t object.

The older paladin sighs a little. “Sorry,” he continues. “I guess I’m not that good at this after all… All of this. I’m a pilot, not a… not a warrior. And I’m… I really shouldn’t be the leader of Voltron, not after…” To his shame he has to admit that after that he gets a little caught up in his own head, memories he thought he’d at least come to terms with resurfacing with full force.

His cell.

Pain.

His arm.

Pain.

The arena.

Pain.

Sendak.

Pain.

Once a slave, always a slave.

Pain. Pain. Pain…

Keith can’t do anything but stare for a moment when he sees the adult freak out. He has never seen something like that, though he recognizes the signs from his own experience. Shiro’s eyes are misted over, looking straight ahead without really seeing anything. His breathing quickens until it becomes short, quick gasps and his human hand is clutching the artificial arm. He’s starting to sweat, too.

Keith has never seen this happen to anybody else. He doesn’t know how to bring somebody else back, either. He surely never has had someone else take care of him when it happened to him. Not that he didn’t hide whenever he felt one of those freakouts coming. But he can’t leave the other man alone, either. Shiro has helped him before. He has been nothing but nice until now. He even stayed, even stopped touching him when Keith made it clear he didn’t want him to. Didn’t make fun of him even once. Keith has to do something… he wants to.

Without thinking any further his body is moving, sitting beside Shiro and only hesitating for a moment before slowly reaching for the man’s human arm. His touch is light, not knowing if it’s a good idea to touch Shiro at all.

“Sh- Shiro…?” he asks, hesitantly at first and then more and more sure until he’s calling out for him in earnest. “Shiro! Shiro, you have to come back! It’s not real!”

Shiro literally snaps back into the here and now. Unlike Keith, who needed a few moments to orient himself, he gasps and blinks once, his gaze scanning the room before going back to Keith, who, by now, is holding onto his human arm and even shaking him a little. He lets go of Shiro as soon as he realizes that the adult is back with him, looking like the literal deer in the headlights. The older paladin gives him the best smile he’s capable of right now and puts a gentle hand on the boy’s shoulder to keep him from backing away now that he’s finally come closer.

“Hey,” he says, doing his best to sound soothing. If Keith’s reaction and the way he relaxes slightly is any indication, it works. “It’s okay. I’m fine now. Thank you. I’m sorry you had to see that, though…”

To his surprise, Keith shakes his head and even smiles a little. “It’s okay. You saw me freak out, too, so I guess we’re even now…”

The way he says that, his tone of voice and how he’s holding himself right in this moment are so… Keith, that Shiro can’t help but ruffle his hair, an amused smile playing on his own lips.

“If you say so…”

The moment ends abruptly when the boy’s tail -it seems to have grown quite a bit with him- twitches. Shiro notices, and then Keith notices that he notices, and just like that they seem to be back where they started, the boy freezed up and nearly panicking again.

“Keith… hey, Keith!” Shiro tries to get through to him before he starts hyperventilating. Keith looks up at him with wide eyes, every muscle tensed to run, but he doesn’t -yet. Shiro counts that as a win. “It’s okay,” he continues. “It’s alright. I promised I won’t hurt you and I would never go back on my word, okay? You’re safe with me. I promise.”

Keith may be only ten, but he knows a few things. One of them is that adults lie all the time. They tell you you’re welcome and you can be a part of their family? Lie. They tell you they’ll help you? Lie. They tell you that you’re safe? Big. Fat. Lie. Especially that last one; it always makes all alarm bells in Keith’s head ring because usually that means that you either will be or already are in danger. But. When Shiro says it, he looks so honest, and like he really just wants to help… And Keith knows that this might be a very bad idea, and if he’s hurt it’ll be his own fault, but he wants. He wants Shiro to be honest. He wants anybody to take care of him for once. Just this one time he wants to be held.

By now Shiro has learned that ten year old Keith is full of surprises (and anxiety, but who could hold that against him). So he really shouldn’t be surprised when he, all of a sudden, has an armful of Keith, clinging to him as if his life depended on it. The boy is still tense, as if he’s not sure that this is a good idea after all. And yet, here he is, in Shiro’s arms, and the older paladin only needs a few seconds to catch up to what happened and return the hug just as tightly, mindful of the strength of his Galra arm. Never mind why this has happened, why exactly Keith chose this moment to finally trust him -or as close as he gets to trusting anybody. The most important thing is that he does.

As soon as Shiro returns the hug, the boy in his arms relaxes. So he must’ve done something right, then. Keith doesn’t say anything and just silently hides his face in the hollow of the older paladin’s neck, so Shiro doesn’t talk, either, and they just sit like that for a while. Shiro wants to wait for the boy’s breathing and rapid heartbeat to slow down before he tries to get him out of here once more. He’s surprised again.

“Can you take me to the kitchen?” Keith’s voice is muffled because he’s still hiding his face; it doesn’t look like he’ll let go of Shiro anytime soon -a fact that is equally adorable and complicating matters.

“Sure,” he still says. This is some real progress. Getting Keith out of this room is the first big step. Then he’ll have to meet the others, at least at some point, and then the Galra… something that might not be that easy since this time around his first encounter with one of them has been frightening at best… But that will come later. Right now all he has to do is stand with Keith in his arms, which he manages although it’s a bit awkward. At least -and Shiro doesn’t want to think about the reason for it- Keith is very thin and short for his age. Get to the door. Open it… and—

the Galra are all gone. He lets out a little sigh of relief at their understanding and the trust they have placed in him. They probably left to tell the others what happened with Keith; and one of them might or might not be tailing them, careful to stay out of sight. They have to be terribly worried about their kit… Later. They’ll take care of all of that later. And they’ll get Keith back to his real form, too. Later. For now Shiro supports the boy’s weight with his stronger Galra arm, the other moving in slow circles over Keith’s back, as he makes his way to the kitchen. Once they’re there and he sees that it is fortunately empty, he slowly coaxes Keith out of his hiding spot so he can put him down and get them both something to eat.

The boy looks a little nervous in the big, mostly open room and stays close to Shiro as he goes through the fridge to see what’s left from dinner. He fixes two plates to heat up, one for each of them because, one, he is hungry after all, and two, he doesn’t think Keith would eat any of this if Shiro didn’t show him it’s actually not dangerous no matter how strange it looks. The older paladin smiles at the boy’s expression when he sees what is supposed to be food.

“I know it looks icky, but it tastes really good. Hunk -he’s the best cook of all of us- is a miracle worker…” He heats up the food -something he’s gotten good at after one too many nights of waking from a nightmare without any chance of going back to sleep- and leads the way to the table. Shiro puts their plates down on it and takes a seat in front of his, waiting for Keith to follow his lead and do the same. The boy is still nervous, he can tell, but only hesitates a moment before sitting at the table.

Keith is still wary, so Shiro gives him a smile and starts eating, hoping that the boy will follow his lead once he sees that it really is edible and that he’ll feel more at ease when he’s unobserved. Eventually Shiro can hear the sounds of Keith’s fork clanking against his plate, hesitantly at first, wary of the strange looking food, then faster. The older paladin hopes it’s not because Keith thinks it’ll be taken from him if he isn’t quick enough. He takes his time with his own food and only looks up once he’s finished. Keith is watching him, quickly averting his gaze, but not quick enough.

Shiro smiles. “Did you want to ask something?” Keith is still hesitating, so he adds, “You can ask me anything, you know? I promise I won’t be mad…”

“It’s not like I’m scared,” the boy pouts.

“Of course not. I didn’t think that you were.”

A pause. “Did you… see that…” He makes a vague gesture with his hand but doesn’t finish the sentence. Shiro understands anyway.

“The Galra?” he asks. “Big guys. Looking a bit like huge cats?”

Keith can only nod, dumbfounded, and Shiro smiles again, trying his best to look reassuring. “They won’t harm you. Promise. They’re… how should I explain this… Keith, do you know where you are?”

The boy shrugs. “At a really weird place?”

Shiro grins a little at the too familiar tone of voice. “Well said… We’re… Don’t take this the wrong way, but we’re in space. And Aliens are a thing.” To his surprise -though, looking back at it later, from what he knows of five year old Keith and the little Keith from the straining simulation it shouldn’t be that surprising at all- Keith, if anything, only perks up.

“In space?” he asks. “How?”

Shiro sighs. He’ll have to tell him something, sometime. “It’s a long story. The most important thing is that there’s aliens, and that you were kidnapped by the bad kind, but we got you out. The Galra who’re here with us are nice.”

“Who’s… we?”

Observant as ever. Oh well, he’ll find out eventually, and given how wary he is it might be better to be as honest as possible. So Shiro tells him what he can, only leaving out that Keith was with them the whole time. How they found the lions, the castle, Allura and Coran. About the return of Voltron, their fight with the Galra empire and Zarkon, and how not all Galra are evil, how some of them have started to fight against the empire. And how they -Voltron- met some members of that resistance who call themselves the Blades of Marmora and, eventually, both groups became allies.

“For Galra,” he explains, “children are very rare. Something precious that is treasured by all of them. Antok -the one you met earlier- was just worried about you and wanted to make sure you’re alright.”

“He could’ve made a much better first,” Keith huffs.

The boy has taken the news about where he is, Voltron, Aliens and their fight much better than Shiro thought he would this time around. At the end of his tale Keith is looking at him with big eyes, eager for this adventure, looking much more like the ten year old he is for the first time since Shiro has found him in the storage room. Or maybe it’s because, no matter where exactly he is, it’s far away from earth in general and those damn adoptive parents especially. He had a similar look on him back in the training simulation upon finding out that Keith -the older one- was living on his own in the desert. Shiro hopes it’s not that.

***

Introducing Keith to the others one at a time over the next few days proves to be the easiest and most successful tactic. The boy rarely leaves Shiro’s side during that time, meeting first the other paladins, then the Alteans and, eventually, the Galra. Shiro has been talking to them every evening, answering Ulaz’s worried questions with the patience of a saint. They take it slower with this Keith, and they even seem to know a little more than they let on -not to mention the fact that Shiro is almost sure that at least one of them is shadowing Keith most of the time.

One evening, a few days after the storage room incident, Kolivan takes him aside, shrugging a little at Shiro’s questioning look. “You know,” he says, and Shiro knows he really did hear everything that happened in the storage room with Keith, no matter how empty the hallway was -or seemed to be- when Shiro opened the door. “You are a good leader for Team Voltron. The best they could ever hope for. It’s not easy, leading, and our lots can be quite chaotic, but as long as we lead them to the best of our abilities we’ll be fine.”

The Galra looks older than he usually does and Shiro remembers that he is over 200, which might not be as much for Galra, but is almost three or four human lifetimes after all. Shiro blinks, surprised about something like this coming from Kolivan of all people. Then again, he is a leader himself and knows the burdens coming with it. “Look, I appreciate it… But…” He trails off, not even sure what he’s supposed to say in a situation like this.

Kolivan hums. “I understand that this has to be unexpected…” Is that a tiny smile playing on his lips? Shiro doesn’t think he’s ever seen him smile before; the Galra is always so serious, almost broody. “But for Keith, you are a part of his pack, kind of, which makes you part of this pack, too. Kind of. We look after ours. You’re still… young, by human standards, right? A man, unlike your fellow paladins, but still a young one. About the same as we are by Galra standards -just that, unlike you, we have lived a lot longer in direct comparison. And the one thing that I have learned in my life is that even we, who’re trusted by others to lead them, are not perfect. We make mistakes, we have our own… history, but we still lead them and they still choose to follow us. And for that trust, we’re all the more strong in face of the enemy. It’s all for them, after all.”

He sure sounds like he knows what he’s talking about. It makes sense, too. And if he’s honest, it’s something Shiro needed to hear. He’s been doubting his position lately with things going downhill, the weight of missed chances, ruined alliances and the temporary loss of Voltron resting heavily upon his shoulders, even though Black has been growling about it in the back of his head. Shiro clears his throat. “Uh, thanks, I guess…”

Kolivan nods. “You’re welcome. And if you ever want to spar, you know where to find me…” He leaves him to his thoughts, after that, probably going to join the rest of his pack. Shiro’s feet start moving on their own accord, the paladin being too lost in his thoughts to realize he’s even moving until he stops and finds himself in Black’s chamber. He goes to sit with him, leaning against one of the massive paws, and takes his time to think everything through again. He doesn’t see anything he could have done differently, really, and Black roars in the privacy of their shared thoughts as if agreeing. But the problems remain; their situation is still far from ideal and Keith…

The boy is still wary of all of them, and neither Shiro nor any of the others have any idea how to make him believe that he’s safe here, with them, apart from showing him. It’ll probably just need time… of which they don’t have as much as Shiro wishes they did. They need Keith back as the red paladin, and soon. Even their existent alliances are in danger of breaking apart with Voltron having gone missing for weeks now, and with every second that passes another attack from the enemy becomes more and more likely…

He falls asleep over those thoughts, right there, and wakes the next morning with a crick in the neck and a headache he could have very easily avoided. Damn. He stands, stretches and goes to check up on Keith first, something he’s made a habit during the last week -he’s not so sure the boy would leave his room at all if Shiro didn’t come to get him to eat something. He knocks at the door and frowns a little when nobody answers. Usually Keith lets him in… He tries knocking again and calls out for Keith, but still doesn’t get an answer. This is… unusual. Shiro only hesitates a few more seconds, before deciding to open the door. It’s unlocked, which is just as unusual as anything else until now; Keith likes to lock himself in to make sure nobody can surprise him. The room is empty.

Shiro pales, thinking about what might have happened to him. Did the empire get to him somehow? He thinks that Lotor is capable of doing anything, he won’t underestimate him a second time. What if there was an attack while Shiro was asleep? What if something happened to any of the others? What if-- What if--

He takes a few, deliberately deep breaths and calms himself. He would not have slept through an attack. Black would have woken him. The alarms would have woken him. Somebody would have come to get him. Everybody is fine. Keith missing most likely doesn’t have anything to do with Lotor and the empire. Keith is a little boy with a preference to hide. If anything, him leaving his room on his own seems to be a sign of the boy being more comfortable here. That’s good.

Shiro goes to look for him anyway.

Keith wakes early with a scream caught in his throat and his heart beating a mile a minute. He takes a moment to calm his breathing and eventually, when he has the feeling that the walls of his dark room are not closing in on him any longer, gets up and dressed. Following an instinct he goes over to the build-in cupboard and looks through the clothes. There’s a belt in there, with two little pouches. It fits him and he can even attach his knife to it… And right next to that belt is a jacket. It’s red and white, with two yellow stripes -whoever has left this here has a good taste. Keith thinks it’s supposed to be cropped, so it should be short, but it’s still a little big on him. Whatever, he’s not picky, and he likes the thought of another layer of clothes to hide behind.

By now he realizes that he’s hungry; but Shiro won’t be up for a while… It’s an inner conflict, one that is swiftly resolved at another growling of his stomach. He’ll just be careful not to run into anybody… it’s pretty early, the others are most likely still asleep anyway.

He hesitates again at the door, but then determinedly opens it and steps out into the hallway, making his way to the kitchen. He runs into Hunk there. Keith kinda freezes in the doorway, debating if he should just retreat -food doesn’t seem to be that necessary all of a sudden- but it’s too late. Hunk turns around and notices him, a bright smile on his lips.

“Hey!” he says, just as cheerfully as he always seems to be. “Mornin’, buddy! Where did you leave Shiro?”

Keith thinks about answering for a moment, looking him over. He’s pretty sure if worst comes to worst he can make a run for it. Hunk is buff, but also a little clumsy from what Keith has seen. He should be safe as long as he’s careful. Remembering that the other has asked him a question, he looks up.

“He’s not up yet…”

“Oh…” Hunk falters but then smiles again. “You hungry? I’m always up early to prepare breakfast… I was gonna make myself some toast… or, whatever it is, at least it tastes like toast… Allura told me the name but I forgot,” he rambles on and he just looks so non-threatening, and maybe slightly nervous, that Keith relaxes a fraction. He nods and eats together with Hunk, who fills the silence with more rambling and stories from cooking experiments gone wrong, which is a bit annoying, but also kinda nice and definitely unfamiliar.

Afterwards he still slinks away when Hunk isn’t looking. It was fun, kinda, eating with him, but he still doesn’t trust him. Of course not. Trusting people is like inviting them to hurt you. He makes his way through the by now more or less familiar hallways, searching for a place to hide, and finds a little room… rather, a space, with a window that looks at the stars and lots of pipes -something for maintenance, maybe? He fits between them. Perfect.

Yeah, you don’t trust anybody, his traitorous mind whispers. Tell that to Shiro.

Shiro is a special case. Keith needs an ally here, and Shiro makes trusting him really easy. If he has to choose anybody, Keith has decided, he’ll trust Shiro. Or as close as he gets to trusting someone.

And what about the Galra?

The Galra are… not even a special case. They’re not any case. Keith is not sure why he feels like he should trust them, or why he feels better whenever he sees them. He’s not sure why he thinks about them so much.

Oh you do. And you know why.

No. No, he really doesn’t. No way.

Yes way.

The tail. Keith’s gotten used to it incredibly quickly, doesn’t even notice it most of the time -no more than he notices his arms, or legs. Nobody else seems to notice or care about it, either. Antok has a tail, too. Coincidence.

Oh really.

“Keith?” Shiro’s voice pulls him back into the here and now. Keith looks up to the paladin’s worried face that lights up with relief for some reason. He looks a bit rushed, like he’s been walking quickly, if not running. The boy frowns.

“Yeah?”

“…Nothing. It’s alright. You’re fine?”

“…Yes…?”

A nod. “Alright then…” Shiro smiles. “You come find me if you want to, okay?”

Keith mirrors the motion without noticing it. “Okay.”

***

Keith stays on his own a lot after that. He roams the castle, mostly avoiding all of them (though he might be avoiding Shiro a little less than the others) and finding all kinds of hiding spots, though he doesn’t go near the storage room again. He still comes out to eat, so nobody bothers him too much; Hunk even makes it a habit to leave little snacks and bottles around for Keith to find he can take with him. At least Keith thinks it’s Hunk doing that. Everything about this situation is so new and unfamiliar that the boy is surprised at every new turn…

Most confusing are the Galra, though. Keith wants to trust them for a reason he doesn’t understand born from a feeling he can’t name, which makes him more than wary. It makes him scared. No matter how often he thinks about it, he always comes to the same conclusion: is he related to them somehow? Maybe he’s not a freak freak, but an alien freak? He doesn’t have a clue how he would’ve ended up on earth though…

But he has a tail. And Antok has a tail.

He really wants to talk to them, maybe ask them about this, but stops himself every time he’s about to go through with it. Getting too close to them feels dangerous. A part of him wants to, but that part is small and easily overpowered by his experiences. No, he decides, he won’t talk to them.

That is, until that choice is taken from him by a fate that has always hated him.

He’s on his way from the kitchen to his favorite hiding place, the one with the pipes and the window, a box with cookies (Keith’s cookies, Hunk has written on it, so he knows it’s his, and he’s never had cookies before coming here) and a bottle of water in his hands, when he runs into them. Well, not really running into them… he stops dead in his tracks when he hears voices behind the next corner.

It’s a strange kind of conversation, growling, a strange whining sound and another growl that sounds… oddly reassuring. Keith timidly peeks around the corner and sees Antok and Thace standing close to each other, Antok’s hand on the other Galra’s shoulder as if to comfort him. And just like that, Thace moves forward with a distressed little sound and Antok pulls him into a hug.

All of a sudden, Keith burns with want. The desire to be held like that overcomes him, just like it did that time with Shiro, in the storage room -just a hundred times more intense. Before his mind can catch up with what he’s doing, a real, pitiful whine escapes him. Both of their heads whip around and it’s too late, they’ve seen him, what’s more they’ve heard him, and quickly covering his mouth with his hand doesn’t do much now apart from the box and the bottle falling to the ground with an unnaturally loud sound in the sudden silence. The box opens and spills the cookies all over the floor, too, but Keith doesn’t think about that. He turns tail and runs, to his room since the way to the hideout is blocked.

There he curls up on the bed, pulling his knife from the belt to feel the comforting weight of it in his hands. His heart is beating so fast, it feels like it’s going to burst out of his chest. His heavy breathing slowly settles and the ringing in his ears stops, which is when he hears the knocking.

“Keith?” Antok’s voice sounds muffled through the door.

“Go away!”

A pause. “Keith, please. Just hear me out. You misunderstood…”

Keith doesn’t think there’s anything to be misunderstood. He’s a freak, that’s all there is to it.

“I really think there are a few things I ougth to tell you.” Antok’s voice is still muffled; it seems he really won’t come in without Keith’s permission. That’s another thing to add to the long list of things Keith hasn’t had in a long time before waking up in this strange place (or has never had at all). And maybe it’s that little detail that makes him give in now.

“Alright, you can come in.” Has he really just said that? The alarm bells that usually warn him are silent. Before he can think about it any further, Antok follows his invitation and opens the door. The tall Galra’s appearance is nothing new this time around, and it doesn’t scare Keith, either. He doesn’t look scary. Just… guilty, for some reason, and maybe… embarrassed? Why would he look embarrassed of all things, though? When Antok hesitates at the door, Keith sighs a little and gestures towards the empty space next to him. There’s not really many other options.

The Galra smiles and sits next to him, though far enough away to not be touching and give the boy some space. For a little while they’re silent, but it’s not the nice, peaceful kind of silence; it feels like a very heavy blanket weighing down on Keith.

“So what do you want?!” he blurts out eventually, when he’s sure he can’t take another minute of this.

Antok sighs a little. “It’s a bit complicated, maybe… Um, what you just saw, the sounds we were making, and the sound you made…”

“Am I… Am I like you?” Keith interrupts him when Antok trails off. The Galra blinks, surprised, but then nods.

“Yes,” he replies. “Yes, you are. As far as we know, at least one of your parents is a Galra… giving you a human appearance, but the instincts of one of us. So those sounds you make? They are totally normal. Any healthy Galra kit should make them.”

As he says that, though, Antok looks kind of… sad, maybe? Conflicted? Keith frowns. “That doesn’t mean you owe me anything. It’s not like… I expect you to do anything now. I’m fine on my own.”

At that the Galra looks shocked. “What? No! No, that’s not…” Another sigh. “I’m not sure how much you know about Galras at this point. But kits -children- are very rare for us. So. We take them very seriously. Every child is a treasure. And if I see what has happened to you…” He growls and Keith, though he’s pretty sure it’s not directed at him, flinches back a little from the hostility of the sound. As soon as he realizes what he’s doing, Antok stops.

“Sorry,” he says. “It’s… not easy. And the kind of sound you make tells us a lot, too… About how lonely you’ve been…”

That’s not. That’s not it. Keith is fine on his own. He always has been. He’d rather be completely alone, if he’s honest. And one day, he will be. Once he’s old enough he’ll find a place, a place where nobody bothers him, where he doesn’t have to fear anything. And… And it’s not like he wants a hug like that. Or to stay close to them. Or… or to climb into Antok’s lap right now… He freezes.

“Just… go. Please.” Keith’s voice is nowhere near as firm as he wants it to be. Antok nods anyway.

“Alright.” He stands. “Just… Keith, there’s nothing bad about feeling like that. It’s part of our instincts. We would love to take care of you, if you let us. So… whenever you feel like it, you can always come to us, okay? We’ll be here.” With that he leaves, not waiting for an answer. Which is good, because if he had, he would’ve seen Keith starting to bawl the next moment.

A part of him, one that’s getting bigger and bigger with every day, wants to.

He wants to believe them.

To go to them.

To trust them.

Another part that’s still bigger is terrified of that.

Because they’ll deceive his hopes.

They’ll be like the others in the end.

What if they hurt him?

***

It takes exactly three days of both of those sides of him fighting an internal battle before he makes the decision to give in to what by now is a burning desire. He wishes he could just trust them, but that’s not how this goes. He has an inkling of how this will possibly go. Either they end up hurting him -in which case that would be his own fault for letting them close enough to hurt him- or they’ll get close enough to him to find out that they don’t want him anymore -in which case, again, it would be Keith’s own fault for getting his hopes up.

Against all he knows, he makes his way to the Galras’ room. But once he arrives he falters. He’s had some time to think about everything, from his room to their door, and he’s pretty sure that this is the worst idea he’s ever had. He won’t go in there. That’s just… no. It goes against everything he knows. So for the longest time he just stands there, not really wanting or able to bring himself to leave, either. In the end he sits down against the wall, pulling up his knees to rest his chin on them. He’s going to get up in a moment…

Falling asleep is not a conscious decision.

When Keith wakes a while later, he’s covered with a light, though warm, blanket and leaning against something soft and warm. He thinks it’s a dream at first, a vague feeling of security and comfort. That is until he is fully awake and realizes that he’s still sitting a few feet away from the Galras’ room, and the “something soft and warm” is Antok’s shoulder. He freezes, frees himself from the blanket and runs (he doesn’t run in a literary way, but metaphorically speaking he does run away). Antok doesn’t say anything.

The Galra is nothing if not patient, Keith realizes in the following days, when the exact same thing happens again and again. He likes it, secretly. He comes back for it, for that little moment between sleeping and waking, when it just feels cozy and safe, safe enough to let his guard down at least a little. Afterwards he’s always a bit shocked of himself, and each time Antok is a steady presence by his side, but doesn’t do anything to keep him from leaving.

When, eventually, he wakes in Antok’s lap instead, thinking that this might be even better because this time he’s surrounded by the warmth, he still immediately frees himself and leaves as soon as he’s properly awake.

He’s not actually enjoying this (he is).

***

“…Antok…?” Keith’s voice is barely audible, just above a whisper. The Galra answers with a hum, not so much a sound as a vibration in his chest Keith can feel in his back. He swallows.

“Why are you doing this?”

Antok takes his time to answer, speaking quietly. “You’ve been sleeping here… and in your sleep you call out sometimes… and it looked uncomfortable, so I brought you a blanket… well, and then you’d lean against me so I didn’t want to move as to not wake you…”

“Oh.”

That doesn’t exactly answer how he’s getting in his lap lately, but Keith doesn’t really feel like questioning that one, anyway. For every time he wakes, if he wants to leave Antok doesn’t hold him back and if he doesn’t want to speak Antok doesn’t, either. He hasn’t hurt him once.

The Galra is nothing if not patient.

***

“…Antok?”

“Hm?”

“Do you guys really have a nest?” Shiro told him about that. But that must’ve been a lie, right?

The Galra chuckles lightly, a sound accompanied by a silent rumble in his chest. “Yes, we do.”

“A real… nest? Like, with blankets, and pillows?”

“Yes, youngling.” Antok sounds mostly amused, and he’s nothing if not patient, and he hasn’t hurt him yet, so it’s okay to be openly disbelieving. Keith huffs.

“I don’t believe you.”

“Well… I could show you?”

Is this a bad idea? Maybe. But has he been saying all of that to get exactly this response because he doesn’t know how else to ask about it? Definitely. So he nods and stands, so Antok can do the same, and follows him inside the room.

There really is a nest. A huge nest of blankets and pillows on the floor, that looks more inviting than any bed Keith has ever slept in.

Keith is just kind of… standing there and staring at the nest with his big, blue-ish grey eyes, full of a longing he won’t voice. He isn’t even reacting to Thace, who is sitting at the table with a book. Who knows where Kolivan and Ulaz are. The younger Galra does notice them, though, of course. He exchanges a surprised glance with Antok over their kit’s head and gets a half-shrug in response.

Antok goes down to one knee next to Keith, putting a hand on his shoulder. The boy is rigid, every single muscle tensed, his eyes slightly watery as he keeps staring at their nest.

“Keith…? You can… try it out if you want?”

Apparently, he does want. Gives a jerky nod, buries himself under the blankets, hugs a pillow and passes out before he’s even fully settled. He makes a content, little sound before he falls asleep, one that tells both of them that his instincts are at the forefront -and probably in control- right now.

Antok didn’t think it would go that smoothly. Thace makes an inquisitive sound and puts the book away and Antok returns a hesitant but agreeing one and they both join Keith, hoping he won’t panic when he wakes. Antok doesn’t think he will, though. He didn’t protest waking in his lap after all.

***

Keith wakes slowly at some point, but doesn’t panic. Still more asleep than awake, he snuggles closer to Antok and makes a questioning little sound that’s met with two reassuring ones. He settles again and keeps his eyes closed, though he seems to be awake now.

“…Keith?”

The mob of black hair that’s buried against Antok’s side gives a slight shake. “Mh-mh!”

“Mh-mh?” Antok amusedly repeats.

“Don’t ever wanna get outta this…” Keith’s voice is muffled, and he sounds a lot more childish than he’s done before, something Antok is infinitely glad of. Apparently, the boy isn’t just not panicking, but feels rather comfortable in the nest, sandwiched between at least two members of his pack (although he doesn’t know that detail, consciously, his instincts still do, and now that he’s here at last he can’t help but feel safe). Antok had hoped for that, but really didn’t think it would go as smoothly as it did.

Keith doesn’t even stir when Ulaz returns and joins them; none of them are even tired, but they stay like that nonetheless, all of them glad to finally fall back into the old routine. Keith is not the only one who needs this.

That is, until Kolivan returns. He makes a deep, rumbling sound in his chest, pleased with the sight of his pack reunited at last. Keith, however, stiffens at the authority resonating in it. He sits up and eyes the newcomer warily, and after a moment the others follow suit, Antok putting a reassuring hand in Keith’s hair. The gesture has the desired effect and the boy relaxes by a fraction, though he still flinches back from Kolivan.

The Galra growls at whoever mistreated his kit enough to put this kind of fear of authority figures in him and sighs when Keith shrinks into Antok, who pulls him a little closer protectively.

“That was not aimed at you, youngling,” he says, as patiently as ever. “Nobody here is going to hurt you, least of all Kolivan. If anything, he’s angry at the ones who hurt you before.”

“Nobody hurt me,” Keith huffs, but it doesn’t even sound like he’s trying to convince any of them of the fact. It sounds like he’s trying to save his dignity, and even though it’s not like they’re thinking any less of him for the fact, they let the topic drop. Now is not the time for that particular conversation. Before anything else they have to get him to accept them as his pack again. His instincts already have, long ago, but he needs to make the decision to trust them with taking care of him.

Something tells Antok that will be a bigger issue this time around.

Kolivan sits down with them but outside the nest for now. Straightforward as he usually is, he doesn’t beat about the bush.

“Keith, we would like to take care of you.”

What? No!

“No! I’m- You don’t have to- I’m fine on my own!”

Antok behind him sighs and Keith feels his hand card through his hair in a soothing motion.

“We know that, youngling,” he replies. “And we would never do anything without your permission. We know that you can fend for yourself, but you don’t have to. We’re not like those humans you know. If Galra -if we as a pack- decide to take in a kit, that’s nothing we do lightheartedly. We take that kind of responsibilty very seriously.” A pause. “And napping like that was nice, wasn’t it?”

It was, but they don’t understand. Keith can’t just… trust them with something like this. No matter how much he wants to, doing that would just be asking to be hurt.

“You don’t have to decide right now,” Ulaz adds. “Just think about it…”

Kolivan nods. “And if at any time you want to visit, feel free to do so.”

And just like that, they let him go. Keith doesn’t really want to dislodge Antok’s hand in his hair, but the need to get out of here, where he’s already feeling so much at home that it hurts, becomes overwhelming.

He goes to hide in his room, the contrast clear as day. It’s empty, and kind of cold, now that he knows the warmth. Not even wrapping himself up in the blanket helps with this coldness. It’s in his bones, replaces the warmth from before, and he almost goes back right then just to stop shivering.

He stops shivering on his own after a while. He doesn’t go back to the Galras until the next day. They said he could always visit them, right?

***

He naps with them, sometimes, though rarely. Other times he sits with them, sometimes quietly, sometimes talking. Sometimes with all of them, though more often with just one or two. The Galra are easy company, welcoming but not overbearing, and Keith finds himself in their room and nest more and more often.

He still doesn’t really trust Kolivan, though. He seems to be the oldest Galra, leader of the pack and all that jazz. And Keith just doesn’t have the best of experiences with that kind of people. So when Ulaz goes somewhere else to do whatever, effectively leaving Keith on his own with Kolivan, the boy tenses just slightly, ready to leave as well. Kolivan’s voice stops him.

“You have a nice knife there.”

Keith freezes, then nods slowly. Nobody has said that about his knife before. Usually they just want to take it from him, something about him being too young for weapons, yadda yadda yadda… “I… I guess?”

Kolivan hums. “But do you know how to use it, actually?”

Keith hasn’t expected that question, either. How to use his knife? He doesn’t, really. Well, he knows to grab the handle, stab or slash with the pointy end and hope for the best. Not that he’s ever actually done that. He hasn’t really hurt anybody before. He just wants them to leave him alone, and they usually do that as soon as he points a knife at them. Other than that it’s just a memento, the one thing he has left from his parents, a familiar weight in his hands. Remembering that Kolivan has asked him a question, Keith shrugs.

“It’s not that hard,” he says.

“I could teach you a thing or two, if you want…”

Which is how they end up on the training deck. Kolivan doesn’t do any of the things Keith might secretly expect him to do; instead he teaches him a few things about how best to hold his knife and how to stand more securely, and after that even how to protect himself from someone who’s taller or stronger than him. At the end of that unusual lesson, Kolivan still easily disarms him, though, and Keith huffs in frustration.

Kolivan grins a little and ruffles his hair, and it’s a testament to how much Keith has relaxed in the last few hours that he doesn’t flinch back from the touch. It feels nice, actually, almost like when Antok does it. He returns the knife and Keith puts it back on his belt for now.

“Don’t be mad, kit, I’ve been training for a long time. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t start out like you… you’ll get there.”

Later, Keith will wonder if it’s the amusement in the other’s voice that does it, or the understanding in his eyes. He just… stops thinking, kind of, and… attacks Kolivan. Or jumps him, rather. He’s growling, too, though not exactly threateningly. The Galra only makes an amused sound and plays along.

They end up wrestling on the floor for a while, Kolivan using just enough force for Keith to feel resistance; in the end Keith is on Kolivan’s back and the older Galra lets him pull his ear a little before he simply plucks Keith from his back and sets him down on the floor gently. He ruffles the boy’s hair again when Keith does not make another move to attack. Keith makes a huffing, little sound and lies down on his back.

All this time, both of them haven’t been talking at all. Kolivan is about 99% sure that the boy’s Galra instincts are at the forefront right now, or that they at least have been. He lies down next to him and just looks up at the ceiling for a while, giving Keith the time to catch his breath.

An indefinite amount of time later, the boy speaks.

“Kolivan?” His voice sounds small, now, maybe a little bit scared.

The Galra makes a sound of acknowledgement, indicating for him to go on.

“What… what was that?”

Kolivan smiles. “Hm? Oh, the playfight? Don’t worry, youngling. It’s something Galra kits do at a certain age. We’re fighters, and our instincts mirror that even at an early age. In a safe environment, a Galra kit will play-fight older Galras -and it’s something us older ones actually enjoy. You know, we always pretend to grow out of it as we grow up, but let me tell you a secret, youngling: We don’t. Though having you around is a very good… excuse to indulge. So thank you for that.”

“Oh…”

Silence.

“…Kolivan?”

“Hmm?”

“Can I… Do you… Do you guys really want to take care of me?”

Kolivan sits up at that, looking into Keith’s eyes to make sure the boy sees how serious he -the whole pack- takes this.

“We do, youngling. We would really like to show you what it is like to be a part of a real pack. I swear to you, on my honor as a fighter, that we would never hurt you. If anybody hurt you, we would be the first ones to make them pay. I do not promise you this, I swear it to you.”

Keith just looks at him with wide, grey eyes for a moment, and Kolivan is not sure if he sees them tear up, because the next thing he knows is that he has an armful of Keith, clinging to him. Now usually, he is not the one to deal with this kind of things, apart from some exceptions. But this may just as well be one of those. So he holds him as best as he can, a comforting hand in his hair because he knows from experience that Keith likes that the most, and waits for the rapid heartbeat he can feel with them being chest to chest to slow down a little.

Once the boy’s breaths have evened out, though, Kolivan realizes that Keith has, indeed, fallen asleep on him. From the kit’s words and actions, he believes that Keith has finally decided to give the pack a chance, something that makes himself more than just a little satisfied. So, since they have probably both missed dinner by now, considering how long they’ve been in here now -something they will have to take care of later, with Keith asleep like that- Kolivan decides to just bring him to the nest for now.

Carrying the boy in his arms like this, Kolivan can’t fail to notice again how small and thin he is. They’ll have to make sure to get him more breakfast tomorrow… But he’ll be damned if he wakes him now, when he finally looks peaceful.

The others are there already, more asleep than awake, and already cuddled up in the nest, but they readily make room for both of them. Kolivan rumbles approvingly at the sight of Keith, safely and peacefully asleep, each member of the pack managing to keep some kind of contact with him, and joins them for the night.

***

Keith doesn’t panic when he wakes in the morning. He’s surrounded by the warmth and finally feels safe for once; he doesn’t feel wary about trusting them any more. One after the other, the Galras wake, each of them having their own routine as it seems. Thace gets up first, followed by Ulaz, Antok and Kolivan. He’s ready first, too, waiting for them impatiently. They go to get breakfast together; only Hunk and Shiro are up yet otherwise.

Keith is not really sure if it’s okay to show… this (whatever it is he has with the pack now; he doesn’t dare call it a family)… so openly in front of others, but neither of the two paladins says anything about. They don’t say anything about the Galras sneaking more food on Keith’s plate, either. Keith doesn’t mind, if he’s honest. People trying to get him to eat more instead of taking food away from him is a welcome change.

***

It’s a bit scary how easy it is to fall into his place in the pack in the following days. At first, Keith expects to wake up from this really strange dream, back in his room or even back at Ma and Pa’s. He doesn’t. Instead, he wakes in a warm nest, the other Galras gathered around him. They keep sneaking food onto his plate, going as far as to slip him treats every now and then. They don’t mind explaining things to him, or the occasional play-fight, and they’re not cross if he sometimes wanders off on his own to have some time to himself. His favorite place is still the little room (if you want to call it that) with the pipes and the window.

He’s on his way back from there to the infirmary where Ulaz often works when he runs into Pidge and Ulaz. Well, he doesn’t really run into them… He hears their voices behind the door and stops when they mention his name.

“…Keith?” That’s Pidge. Keith likes her, actually. She’s good at bickering.

There’s a pause. “Not yet,” Ulaz replies, and he might have shaken his head. “There is nothing physically wrong with him, apart from malnutrition.”

“But can’t we do anything? We can’t go without Voltron much longer, Shiro and Lance are working themselves to the ground! And I wouldn’t have thought I’d ever say that, but Lance especially!”

What are they even talking about?

“Can’t we try the cryo pod again?” Pidge sounds desperate. “It worked the last time, didn’t it? He’s older now! I’m sure it only didn’t work the whole way because of the attack and the blackout!”

What…? Keith is at a loss, but he’s moved a little too close to the door and has triggered the opening mechanism. The damn thing slides open with a hiss, causing both, Pidge and Ulaz, to look up sharply.

There is Keith, looking confused, slightly guilty and wide-eyed. Pidge hopes he hasn’t heard what they’ve been talking about, but judging by his appearance they don’t have as much luck. She sighs.

“Did you hear what we just said?”

The boy nods silently.

Ulaz pinches the bridge of his nose. “I guess you have questions, then…”

Another nod.

This is bad for several reasons. Because Keith shouldn’t have heard it in the first place. Because they’re probably the worst possible people to explain this entire mess to him. Because… Because! He looks kinda scared again, and it’s their fault for not being careful. This is no good… And still, they can’t just tell him nothing. With the damage done, Pidge and Ulaz sit the boy down and tell him what has happened. Everything.

This has to be a joke. Or a dream. Will he wake now? He hopes he won’t, because Antok and the others are the best thing that’s ever happened to him, no matter if Keith would ever admit that outside the privacy of his own mind or not.

He’s 18? A paladin of Voltron, like Shiro, and Hunk, and Pidge and Lance? And their enemy kidnapped him and turned him into a child? He doesn’t even have any memories of that. He doesn’t have any memories from before he woke up in the room with the cryo pods. But how would he have ended up here otherwise? It makes sense… Well, as much sense as waking up in space with aliens makes.

“Keith?”

Ulaz’s voice pulls him back into the here and now and Keith realizes that he must’ve been sitting there for a while without saying anything. Both of them look worried by now, Pidge is fiddling her thumbs nervously.

Keith shakes his head. “It’s… alright. I guess. I mean, better than where I was before. Right?” He swallows. “Though I guess… I guess I have to get back to normal, somehow…?”

Ulaz nods. “We’ve been trying to find a way,” he says. “But it’s not easy. Nothing is out of the ordinary, apart from the obvious. And if we had a choice, I would like it much better to give you the childhood you deserve, if I’m honest.”

“But we don’t…” Pidge looks down. “We really need you as the red paladin, Keith.”

The floor is interesting all of a sudden, Keith finds. “It’s not fair to you and the other paladins,” he mutters. He looks up at them. “Where is the red lion, right now?”

Ulaz smiles. “In its chamber. Safe and sound, just… without a suitable pilot at the moment.”

“Can I see her?” It’s definitely a her, not an it. Keith is not sure how he knows that but it’s not important where that particular information is coming from.

“Um… sure?” Pidge glances at Ulaz, who shrugs a little as if to say well, it can’t hurt now, can it, and leads the way.

Keith has seen the other lions on a few occasions before, but Red is not much bigger than him. Seeing her makes him feel a strange pang of guilt, as if he has forgotten something very important. She comes over and nudges him, and he puts a hand on her shoulder in a movement that feels as familiar as the weight of his knife in his hands. He swallows again and leans his head against her side.

“I’m sorry I don’t remember you as I should,” he says. “But I will soon…”

Red just nudges him again and somehow it feels like forgiveness. Keith turns around to Pidge and Ulaz.

“You said if I went into that cryo-pod-thing I might go back to normal?”

Pidge nods. “Yeah,” she says. “It won’t harm you for sure -cryo pods are for healing only- and as far as my calculations go, considering what happened last time, you might be back to your old self in no time at all.”

Keith thinks about that. “Alright,” he says, finally. He looks up at Ulaz. “I don’t trust those things, but… but I trust you, I guess. If you say it’s okay I’ll try.”

“I would never do anything to harm you, youngling,” Ulaz replies in all seriousness. “If I wasn’t sure this might work… But I think it will, and it’s the best chance we have.”

“Okay then.”

Keith follows them to the room with the cryo pods, feeling as if he’s being carried away by all that’s happening -it’s happening so fast- and Ulaz pulls out a small phial with a clear fluid in it.

“If you drink this, you’ll fall asleep. It does nothing more, but this way, we can get you into the cryo pod without any complications. I don’t want to risk anything…”

Keith nods and takes the vial, and Ulaz gives him a reassuring smile and growl and ruffles his hair. “You will be fine, youngling.” He turns to Pidge as Keith nods and downs whatever is in that vial. “Would you mind getting the others? I fear we will have some explaining to do…”

Keith doesn’t hear her reply. He’s so tired, all of a sudden, and the world fades out to black.

***

Keith wakes as the cryo pod opens, still feeling slightly groggy. He’s caught by a pair of familiar arms before he can fall over -Antok. The Galra looks relieved.

“Antok…? What… Where?” He blinks. Why is everybody here? “Why…?”

“Easy, youngling. We’ll explain it all to you. Just wake up first…”

It takes a moment. When he does wake more fully, all of a sudden he remembers.

“Lotor!” he gasps, muscles tensing in a sudden urge to flee even though he can see he’s not there anymore. But he’s been there and how is he not all of a sudden and he just talked to Lotor, didn’t he?

“Keith? Keith!” It’s Antok, having been closest, who grabs Keith’s shoulders firmly. “It’s alright, youngling. We got you out…” The Galra speaks calmly, and after a few minutes Keith’s breathing has calmed enough for him to understand the words as well. He’s here. He’s safe. He’s home. There’s his pack, all of them, and the other paladins, and Allura and Coran looking on a bit worriedly…

“Okay,” he mutters, resting his head against Antok’s chest. “Okay. I’m okay. I’m fine.”

And as his heartbeat slows down to a normal pace as well, he remembers something else. Something more. It’s… strange, though. A little foggy, maybe…

“I think I had the strangest dream…”

Pidge grins. She’s giddy today. “No dream, Keith. I mean, if you’re talking about the same thing I’m talking about, which is you being turned into a kid by Lotor. Which we just reversed. You’re welcome.”

Wait. What? That happened? All of that? He remembers riding Antok’s shoulders, a panic attack in the storage room, being introduced to everybody twice… Keith would probably blush the darkest shade of red there is, if all of this wouldn’t feel so damn surreal.

“And you were such a cute kid!” Lance crows. “I especially liked the thing where you-“

“Shut up, Lance,” several voices interrupt him. None of them seems too serious. They’re all relieved. Lance looks tired, actually. And not just him.

Shiro steps forward and puts a hand on Keith’s shoulder, smiling. “It’s good to have you back,” he says.

Keith mirrors the smile without even being aware of doing it. “It’s good to be back, I guess.” He pauses. “Guys, did that really happen… I mean… A tail? Really?”

“A tail. Really,” Antok replies, and he’s looking more than just proud, he’s looking… Keith can’t place it, actually. He’s never seen that look on the Galra before.

“Huh. Hey, it looks like yours!” He frowns. “Is that a Galra thing?”

“Yeah,” Antok replies. “A Galra thing.” He hugs him tightly, and Keith is going to complain about it, really, he is. In a sec. “We have a lot to talk about, I think.”

#fluff #hurt/comfort #angst #voltron #mother hens of marmora 'verse #my writing #MoM fic

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