AUTHORS NOTES _

I do NOT own Voltron Legendary Defender

Hope you enjoy!

Keith felt out of place. They had just cleared a planet of Galran tyranny. The inhabitants of said planet wanted to celebrate and thank them with a ceremony and a banquet.

The problem?

Ever since a Druid had hit him with some quintessence-infused magic, his Galran DNA had overlapped his human DNA, and he now had purple fur, fuzzy ears that reminded him of a mixture of wolf and cat ears, a freakin' tail, and sharp claws and fangs. At first he HATED himself. He looked like one of them. He gave Shiro a panic attack.

But when Pidge was captured he snuck in dressed as a soldier. Their plan worked flawlessly and he grabbed her and left as quick as Red could fly. Haggar was pissed.

But now he had to leave the safety of his armor and helmet. He always got disgusted looks or flinches of fear.

Now he sat in the castle, fiddling with the armor that kept him safe and concealed. It wouldn't hide his purple fur, the tail, his glowing yellow eyes, his claws or fangs. A knock at his door made him startle, but he quickly regained composure and opened the door.

"Dude, we're supposed to be at that celebration thing in like, two doboshes." Lance said, clearly in a rush. Keith could only assume that the blue paladin was anxious to meet the female inhabitants of this planet. From Lance's expression, Keith assumed that his ears had flattened against his head.

"I don't think I'll be going." He said quietly, fidgeting with his helmet. His tail swished around behind him, tucking slightly in between his legs. Lance frowned, unsure as to why his teammate was acting so gloomy.

Well, gloomier than usual.

"Hey, if you think it's because you're-"

"What, a freak?" Keith snarled lightly. "I can't look in a mirror without flinching. Imagine what a whole race will do to me when they see a Paladin of Voltron is actually one of the things they were enslaved by!" He all but yelled. Lance visibly sagged. "Look," Keith ran a claw through his hair, "just.. go on. Meet some girls, go have fun."

Lance, to the Red Paladin's mild astonishment, brushed past Keith and went into his room. His indignant spluttering went unnoticed by Lance as he stood in Keith's room.

"I'm not leaving if you're not going. Don't assume what they'll think, dude." He crossed his arms. "You literally just saved their asses. The LEAST they could do is throw you on a chair and parade you around d the town." Keith's ears perked up slightly, a small sigh escaping his lips. "If you want, I can ask Allura if we can wear our armor too?" Keith visibly relaxed, but his ears were still mostly flat against his head.

"Fine," he bit out, "but I'm sticking with you guys the whole night."

"Let's catch up with the others."

VOLTRON_

Shiro would never deny the fact that he was extremely proud of his little brother. Well, adopted brother but still. When they were in school together he would always brag about Keith's grades or his ability to pilot. But when he found out that the Red Paladin was half Galra, he may or may not have internally shut down.

The very race that captured his crew, took his arm and left him with no choice but to fight or die. His little brother was made from the same DNA as those monsters. But Keith himself had taken vast strides to show Shiro that he could still trust in him, and that he was still Keith. When Shiro saw the Druid zapping his brother with quintessence infused bolts of magic, all he saw was red. He must've destroyed about every droid and Galran soldier that came to stop them. He remembered holding an unconscious and battered Keith in his arms as he ran for the Black Lion, its thoughts on getting them all back to the castle by any means. It tore through the Galra fighters and even a ship with an ion cannon.

It was little bits at first, but at dinner one night Keith went to his room early, saying that his mouth hurt. The next day, he wouldn't say anything to anyone unless his helmet was on, and even then his visor was darkness dramatically. Or when Keith kept running into walls and ended up holding a hand against one whenever he walked. Little things like this kept happening until Keith was basically LIVING in his armor. Shiro knew something was definitely up, but didn't push it. He knew how Keith worked, and he knew that whenever the Red Paladin felt ready, he'd open up to him.

And then when it happened, it was a complete and utter disaster. Keith was injured during a fight and refused to seek medical attention. He grabbed a med-kit from the castle's infirmary and stormed off to his room. When Shiro knocked on his door, Keith sounded scared. Almost, upset. Shiro practically knocked down the door to get to his little brother and when he saw him...

Shiro stood there, eyes wide. Keith stood there, only his lower half covered in armor still. His whole body was covered in a light layer of purple fur. His eyes were completely yellow and his ears reminded Shiro of fluffy cat ears. A tail sbehind him, sticking awkwardly out of his armor.

"Shiro.." was all Keith could manage. Quiznak, he even had fangs. Unbeknownst to him, Shiro's Galra prosthetic started to glow with the all-too-familiar hum of purple energy. When he realized what he'd done, Keith had already yanked on a shirt and ran.

"Keith wait!" He yelled in vain, but Keith just kept running, not knowing or caring where he went. When he rounded what felt like the twelfth corner, he leaned against the wall, barely breathing heavily.

The walls reflected back a monster. Keith hated his reflection. He hated the Galra for making him into this... this freak. Keith's ears perked up when he heard footsteps, and he had a half a mind to run again. But really, what would it have done? So instead, he sat there, awaiting anything. Shiro rounded the corner and saw Keith sitting against the wall, looking up at him. He cautiously took a few steps forward before sitting down.

"I'm sorry I reacted like that. It was.." Instinct? Caution? Fear?

"This is why I've been avoiding you. I'm one of them." Keith snarled angrily, tail giving a violent flick and it smacked against the wall. He clearly looked angry, though it wasn't directed at Shiro. It was being directed towards himself.

"Hey, you're not one of them." Shiro retorted gently. Keith scoffed.

"Have you looked at me lately? I highly beg to differ." He gave a harsh laugh.

"Were you the one that captured my crew and me on Kerberos?" Keith shook his head, his hair falling in his face. "Were you the one that took my arm from me?" Another shake of the head. "Were YOU the one that saved me from being experimented on?"

Keith nodded, not really sure what message the Black Paladin was trying to convey. "Exactly. You didn't do anything evil, you're not evil. You aren't one of THEM. You're Keith, a half-human, half-Galra. You're my brother." Shiro said, putting an arm around the now silently crying Keith.

"They're gonna hate me. Allura couldn't even stand the fact that I was Galra, and now..."

"Hey, don't do that. I'm sure she understands." Shiro stood, and lent a hand to Keith. Keith took it and stood with him. Standing there for a few moments, he suddenly latched on to Shiro, hugging him tightly.

"Thanks." He mumbled into Shiro's chest.

"C'mon, we'll go explain what happened."

We...

Static from the intercom brought Shiro out of his reverie.

"Attention Paladins. Since this is formal event we will be wearing our Paladin armor. This is a very warrior-like race, and will appreciate our efforts to... dress accordingly to their culture!" Allura said, sounding diplomatic and yet happy at the same time. Well that works - he hadn't even thought about changing into anything other than his armor in the first place. A knock on the door had the Black Paladin moving. He looked down at Pidge, who had all four mice perched on her shoulders.

"We're gonna be late Shiro!" She said hurriedly, and practically dragged him out of his room. He quickly caught up with her pace, which was astonishingly fast for someone of her size, and they walked briskly down the hall to the entrance of the Castle. They met up with the others, who were all suited up in their armor, including Keith, who had his helmet on and his tail shoved uncomfortably in his armor. He had bound it with tape and cloth, hoping it wouldn't move. It was uncomfortable and he would no doubt be in pain tomorrow. Sighing, he looked up and saw that everyone else had their armor on and it made him feel slightly better. Shiro put his helmet on after dumping the mice (gently) on the ground.

"Alright team, lets go."