Keith is aware of the energy around him.
It's jumping, moving, shifting. It's alive. He doesn't need to breathe, but somehow he is able to take in a deep, slow breath before he allows himself to open his eyes. He's suspended in the bright light, gone from Red's cockpit though he can still feel her, somewhere in this blinding, cold, light.
Honestly, it felt like he was inside a computer program, watching everything break apart in codes and start to rearrange. If there was one thing he could describe it as, it was that he felt like Lucy.
Lucy.
The poor girl studying in China, taken to become a human drug carrier across the borders of countries. Only for the container to burst inside her in transit and open up the entire world to her. The drug opens her ability to devour knowledge easily; her eyes see the very life that pulses through living beings' veins. He didn't really like the ending of the movie, though, but that wasn't the point.
The same life he sees is right in front of his eyes, shifting, moving, changing. Keith could see all the lives from before, quickly flicking through the forefront of his mind like a fast forwarded movie. But he is able to hear and see everything, not a detail is missed. He sees his life and almost forgets why he was here.
Keith breathes in deep and holds it for a few ticks, then lets it out. He can read the waves of the energy as it twirls around him, his body not there but at the same time he was. He feels the ribbons of energy go through his intangible body and he gasps, feeling pain for a moment before he broke free of the invisible confines, ripping them from touching whatever his body was at the moment.
He understood what had been happening during the final battle.
Haggar charmed the air around them, and when it collided with Keith's magic, all the atoms went backwards. It pulled him apart, like he was still in the large container being ripped apart cell by cell and remade once he was back in the past. He was not supposed to remember. Haggar has miscalculated his ability to soak up the memories still attached to the atoms around him.
This was supposed to be the "harvest day." That was why he felt the energy tendrils come after him but unable to touch him as he forces a wall between himself and the offending energy.
Keith did it. He caught it. He figured it out! His energy bubbled up as the atoms came together to make his actual body. He could see the multitude of layers of his lives just floating above each other, one right next to another. He feels them move against the palm of his hand, the colors changing and dotted like stars. Stripes of colors, a multitude of dots portraying the times of his lives that should never have been fractionated apart.
Breathe in. Hold. Breathe out.
As Keith pushes together the timelines, he feels them repel against each other like the same sides of a magnetic pole. It tingles down his arms, even as they started to fade and the color of his materialized skin shivered and broke.
It didn't hurt. It didn't, he told himself. Really, it didn't. But it was new and he's never felt his cells break apart before- or had he? It felt familiar enough that he was scared he got it wrong. That he'd be sent back again.
It tingles, tickling up his funny bone to his elbows and higher to his shoulders.
Focus.
Another little push and-
Keith lines them up perfectly, watching them fight to get away from each other for a moment before he slams them together, forcing them to merge-
Keith gasps for breath, his head throbbing intensely. His hands are clutching at Red's joy sticks and he blinks away the tears. His eyes widen, staring down at his hands.
"Keith! Keith! Are you okay?"
Lance's voice is practically yelling over the intercoms. Keith takes in a shuddering breath, feeling like he just got sledged in the head with a metal bat then had it ricochet off a metal wall.
He did it.
Keith stares at the gems woven into his skin of his right arm. The same arm he could feel. The same hand that had a little button ring on his finger. On his left he had more gems and tattoos. Keith could feel the weight of the melded gem in his ear flap. Could see his white hair a mess that shapes his face.
"I did it!" He screams, at the same time hearing another screech of anger from the ship he was in front of. Haggar is pulling out her hair in frustration. Keith grins.
"Did what?"
"Holy shit, what just happened?"
"Guys, focus!"
"Shit! Fuck- watch out for that thing!"
Keith yells as he shifts his controls forward, careening to crash through the thick plated window, jumping out of Red's mouth as she roared for him to do his best.
He was assaulted with magic when he jumps out; he manages to counter it, shifting around the blast of light.
"How! Dare! You!" Haggar screams, voice high and scratchy and everything unpleasant like nails on a chalkboard and cigarette smoke. Keith doesn't let it deter him as he forms his bayard into a scythe, charming it with magic as he charges it at her.
They clash time after time; Keith could feel her losing her edge. It was just him against her, any sentries or soldiers that came in where quickly cut down by the bursts of colliding energy. She's becoming sloppy, angrier with every swing of her arm and wield of her magic to try and send him back.
Back to the free-floating light where she can rip him apart again.
Keith was becoming more agile, instead. Able to see her moves before she tries to make it. His eyes were wide open and reading her, the spells she wields. His robes are being soaked in blood, those of soldiers who tried to step in to subdue him only to be ended with a quick slash of sharp energy, with Haggar's blood when he manages to knick her arm and back.
Keith sucks in a breath, letting his atoms dissipate to the background. His atoms shake, and it feels weird and unreal that he could still feel every single one of his cells, his muscles, despite not even being animate. Haggar pauses in her swing, looking around angrily. Keith lets out his breath as he reanimates kneeled in front of her, eyes narrowed. Before she could act, he lunges with his bayard, swinging, and it cuts through her neck with a sickening crunch, Haggar's scream cut short.
Panting hard, he watches as her head rolls off the platform they stood on, plopping down the stairs with a look of unadulterated horror frozen on her face. Her body wobbles before it falls to the side. His hands shook from adrenaline and he gulps down the saliva mixed with blood from a busted lip.
Keith walks over to the body and kneels down, hands over the corpse in a final attempt to get rid of her once and for all. He doesn't want her to ever have a chance at rebirth. So he breathes in the metallic air around him and focuses, ripping apart the atoms in her body like she had done to him so many times, and lets them scatter between worlds until only her robe and drying blood is left.
He knows. And because he knows, he was also able to do and mimic. It felt fake, to wield knowledge he never really learned firsthand but able to use it without a second thought or foul up. Keith slides his feet across the tainted floor, sitting on the steps of the platform, careful of the debris next to him.
When he picks up her head between his palms, her skin was paler, resembling Allura's own dark skin instead of his purple tint. Her eyes are dull and Keith could see the pupils under the golden sclera.
"Goodbye, mother.."
Keith watches the cells of her body flake in tiny pieces, like dust being blown away. When he takes a breath and lets it out a few ticks later, he felt like it was the first unlabored breath he had taken since his life began.
It felt like aged had passed. The world was silent—despite the raging battle still present outside. The world was still, even as he vaguely registers battle cruisers zoom past the thick pane of glass to the outside.
Unreal.
Paladin!
Keith turns to Red, feeling her urgency. He furrows his brow and stands, the noise of alarms coming back to him at an alarming pitch, grating against the inside of his skull. He felt sluggish for a moment, as time sped up to the accepted rate, as he finally gets to his feet and runs toward his Lion. He straps in quickly, hands shaky and difficult to grab his harness, before shoving on his modified helmet.
"Keith! Where were you? Are you okay?"
"Copy that. I'm fine, Lance." His skin feels like it's dancing. He's excited; he can't wait to tell them the news, yet… At the same time it feels wrong to unreal. But then again, nothing had ever felt real for him.
"Is everyone ready? The forces have thinned out. I think now it's perfect to attack Zarkon." Shiro's voice filters through the coms.
"Agreed." Keith says, steading the tremor in his hands as cold seeps into them. Haggar's gone. It should make him happy, incredibly so. Keith shakes it off; death has always made him falter in his step, irregardless of who was at the end of his sword.
Keith feels the apprehension from his team, from his Lions. Silently, he lets Red carry the message of Haggar's demise. He feels back: shock, encouragement, cheer. He finds his lips are curling into a small grin as his hands steady on the joystick controls.
I'm back, Lance.
"Form Voltron!"
The battle against Zarkon had dragged on and on. It went for hours, until everyone's, Voltron's and their allies' resources had been depleted to mere numbers.
But they did it. They finally did it.
Zarkon is dead.
"We... We did it!" Allura screams through the communications. Keith could practically see her jumping up and down for joy, hugging Coran.
Keith's heart is hammering against the inside of his chest, faster than it's ever been. His hands have started to shake again, since the very last moments and the last hits against the tyrant. How bright it all was, the burst of overwhelming energy that's been stowed in Zarkon's veins since he first started his reign. Keith thinks he might've been blinded, permanently, but as he blinks his eyes and everything comes into focus in bubbles of colors, he thinks he was just overreacting.
His teammate's cheer, the relief and astonishment he could feel through the bond of their lions was palpable. He sucks in a shaky breath, listening to Red's rumbled purr to try and help him calm his nerves.
"Paladins, come back to the castle. We are receiving transmission of Galra soldiers' surrender." Her voice starts again after a moment. Voltron disbanded, leaving Keith to hobble Red back to her hangar. He feels sick as he parks Red and stumbles out of her mouth, like he'd had an overdose of quintessence injected into him.
That's probably what had happened during Zarkon's end. That bright light and the quintessence he had ever consumed had to go somewhere, and it seemed like Keith was the next best place for it to congregate. His vision is blurry as he steps closer to Red's paw and leans against the cool metal, dingy from the fight.
"Keith!" Lance is running to meet him, arms around him in an instant and crushing him in a hug. Despite his stomach doing slips, Keith couldn't help but smile and hug back, memorizing the feeling of his being next to him. "Holy shit, we did it! Oh my god, Keith.. Keith.."
Keith smiles and leaned into him. Hugging tighter when Lance's voice hiccupped.
"We did it.."
"We did."
"You came back.."
"I did."
"God.. I'm just so fucking glad.."
Keith smiles and buried his face into Lance's neck, breathing in his scent. Next thing he knew Lance had pulled away and lips were crashing against his with as much urgency and love they had left at.
When they pull away, Lance stares at his hair, at the gems embedded in his ear and the marks on his hands, the ring. His eyes widen when he sees markings on his own arms and hands, through the cuts in his suit, looking himself over. His eyes lock with Keith's and Keith waits for Lance to understand what had happened. What he did.
"Holy fuck..." Lance whispers, cupping Keith's face with his hand and kissing him again. "Holy fuck, Keith.." He kisses him again and again. Keith lets him, giving back the love and affection Lance had ever shown him.
"We should... Really.." Lance kisses him between words. "Get to the others.. Explain." But he made no move to stop or move away and Keith wasn't about to make him. Lance kisses him one more time before his body is crushed against his and Keith holds on like there might be a chance of them being separated again, but there wasn't. Not anymore.
Not ever again.
Keith had to remind himself that they were here. This was real. Keith wasn't going anywhere and Lance wasn't either.
They stay there, standing despite their sore legs, for what feels like hours before Allura calls them over the speakers.
Slowly, glacially slow, they move a few inches from each other, still holding on tight to each other's hands as they walk together to the commons room. Their clothes are bloody and ruined, fatigue evident on their faces as they step into the room.
Everyone is still coming down from their high, off the lingering adrenaline. They're hugging and laughing and Hunk is crying. Lance and he were bombarded with hugs and cheers, eyes wide with disbelief.
Everyone thought they would die out there.
Everyone expected to die out there, giving themselves up as martyrs for the cause. Dying if it meant taking down Zarkon.
But they lived. They all lived.
And if anyone saw Keith wiping at his eyes the moisture that kept accumulating there, they didn't mention it. Only pulled him in with bone-crushing hugs and their own eyes wet in relief.
"We are all gathered here today to introduce to you, your new king." Allura stood next to an elder Galra, her hair losing sheen and color in their old age, but nevertheless looking for the entire world the powerful and strong Galra leader they had been before. Keith stood behind the curtains, fiddling with his hands as he tries to straighten out his royal Galran garb, much different in style than the militaristic uniform previous (namely only Zarkon) royalty wore.
These robes were from the olden days, when there was peace. Before Zarkon decided to take over the universe. They had been made with many different colors of pinks, purples, and reds with accented whites. It reminds Keith of the clothing of the Japanese empress' with all the extra layers and cloths that trailed behind him as he walked. The multiple ornaments threaded into his hair and sticking out for aesthetic.
Allura is retelling the story of Voltron, of their mission, of how Zarkon broke peace and how his own son, yes, son, was against him. Enough to be worthy of being the Red Paladin. There is quiet as the elder speaks of new times, freedom, no more wars, under their new king.
The lions are sat right outside around the giant venue where the ceremony is held. He feels Red trying to comfort him, sending calming waves to stop the tremble in his hands as they wrap around the ornamental staff and straightens his back.
Breathe in. Hold. Exhale.
Keith walks out, taking careful steps to not trip on the multitude of robes in front of him and makes a fool of himself. The crowds are quiet until Keith is by his flat podium where a thick pillow seat is ready for him. Lance and Pidge are on the left side of the stage, in their own ornamental clothing but bayards at the ready in case of a revolt. In case someone tries to kill him. Keith knows that's ridiculous. He was the most powerful weapon, next to Voltron, there was no one who could go against him.
Shiro and Hunk are on the opposite side of the stage, also at attention. They seem to have perfected the I'm not a threat but if you try and attack I'll kill you look.
Keith takes a breath and greets the elder, each bowing their heads in respect before he takes his seat on the pedestal. In the crowd he sees Galra and Balmerans, a multitude of other newly freed people they had met and formed alliances with. The roar of cheering from the crowd is deafening as he is crowned.
Keith being King of Galra was just a stepping stone. In reality, after the ceremony, they had formed a democratic government with people who they thought would be good in those positions. After that, they would be free to choose their own leaders once the terms were up.
Honestly, Keith was glad he didn't have to govern an entire people. Didn't have to worry about implementing new laws or anything else that comes with being a leader. Even though he was told he would make a good leader by the entire team, he just wasn't comfortable with leading that many people. Too many things could go wrong. He still had a fiery temper and his emotion flare easily, especially if it was something he was passionate about. A "leader" should have a level head when talking negotiations.
It took longer than expected to get everything settled for the fallen Galra Empire, now transformed into a "modern" society. And of course, that wasn't the only thing they had to deal with after they won.
War reprimands, figuring what to do with the prisoners of war who wouldn't surrender, dealing with the very long list of casualties throughout the years and giving proper burial rights. Voltron had decided to create a council of nations, much like a larger version of the League of Nations, with tons of leaders from every planet and civilization, to create a universal law across the universe. They had to forge new alliances between each of them, and if they so wished and wanted new documentations and technology.
It was just so much work. Keith honestly didn't know how Allura could do it day in and day out. Of course, she did have Coran's help. And Lance was also being taught to be an advisor to the Queen, so he was becoming quite the diplomat. His manners are, as Hunk would put it, on point. He's the ultimate gentleman, for starters, and he could think with a level head, even if his emotions ran high. It was something Keith really admired about Lance: that he could think objectively.
That being said, they've all been very, very, busy. Despite not really needing to fight any more, Keith was exhausted. When he was crowned King he'd stayed at Galra Central Command (the newly rebuilt one, of course) with the elder and Allura and Coran so they could come up with the new system of government and how to come up with the currency to help rebuild lives they've ruined. He hadn't seen Lance for weeks as they go out and provide medical help to planets desperately needing them. And even though his magic no longer leaves him feeling like he was freezing at absolute zero, he was still cold without Lance smiling encouragingly beside him.
Now the repetition becomes, sleep, eat, and plan. Make all the drafts and then implement them. Implementing them takes even longer, as they needed a way to send news to the entire universe. Hunk and Pidge had worked day in and day out to create a system of communications that would work everywhere they could possibly reach. It had taken them a few months, even with the help of the most intelligent beings of many races coming together. Luckily the translators had worked, but even then it was hard to articulate complete ideas in a precise manner that everyone would understand and be on board with.
By that time, Keith was 'allowed' back onto the castle to help the other paladins in aiding those in need. There were some planets that hadn't even been told of the fall of the empire and they cried for joy when Shiro told them they were free people once more. Some thought it was a trick, but Shiro gave them the official decree of Keith's coronation as the new figure head.
It felt awkward when their eyes widened at Keith, back in his druid robes (new ones. Lance somehow had the time to make him), and then they fell to their knees and bowed. Keith jumped back, hands up.
"No, no. Wait- Don't bow." He says, stuttering. Because it was weird. Even the elder hadn't bowed so deeply, only inclined her head a little deeper than he did. And the crowd had jumped up in cheers. "Stand, please. There is no need for that."
"Yeah, you don't need to bow." Lance was at his side, using Keith's shoulder as an armrest. When the leader glances up he visibly balked at Lance's boldness, became more frightened when Keith didn't show signs of obvious resentment at being treated as an armrest. Even more so when Pidge joined in on Keith's other side.
Keith sighs and kneels down, hand out stretched.
"It's really okay."
The leader took his clawed hand very carefully and Keith pulls him up with minimal effort, dusting him off in a show of goodwill. After that, they were still just a little on edge that Keith's kindness was a farce. But as time and negotiations went on, they relaxed margin by margin when Keith didn't lash out.
"So, does this mean yurr like, double royalty?" Matt slurs his word, raising a brow comically high while rubbing his chin.
"Double what now?" Keith swallows his food before he speaks.
"Double royalty. Since like, first you were a prince because you're Allura's lil' bro. And then you're also Galra royalty. So, you know, double royalty." Matt explains it like it made the perfect sense in the world. Keith rolls his eyes.
"I am pretty sure it's just regular royalty. You don't call children of two different royals double royalty, do you?"
Matt opens his mouth to protest, then shuts his mouth, glaring off to the side. Keith stares, watching as his face reddens.
"I did it when I was young okay?" Matt puffs out his cheeks, Keith trying to stifle his laughter.
"What, like two seconds younger?" Matt gasps, jaw dropping.
"God, rude. Wow. I'm going to tell Pidge on you. You'll get in troooouble."
"I'm double royalty she can't do anything to me."
Double royalty had become a running joke from then on.
"What's that?"
"A wrench."
"What's that thing?"
"A computer chip for the new communications upgrade."
"What about this?" Keith holds up some weird curly cued tentacle thing that didn't look like it can fit anywhere into what Hunk was building.
"Aesthetic."
Keith turns his head from where he was comfortably sitting against Hunk's chest, watching him with a straight face.
"What?"
"Really? You're just gonna stick this onto this thing.. For aesthetic."
Amazingly enough, Keith actually had free time. But Lance was out on a diplomatic mission when Keith was finished with his own assignment, so they couldn't really relax together.
Hunk keeps good company though. Even when Keith keeps asking about parts and what he's doing second after second, he never gets tired of answering or gets frustrated that Keith keeps asking (though few questions were asked twice).
"Yup." Hunk says proudly, zapping together some metals and making tiny, tiny, things in a very intricate manner Keith can't even understand.
Quintessence? Yes. Magic? Yes. Mechanics? No.
Keith hums as his answer and turns back, getting comfortable and letting his questions taper off until the noise was just melodical sparks.
"I can't believe you ate the last pudding cup! That was mine! I wrote my name on it!" Lance is practically screeching. His voice carries down the hall from the common living room. Matt is dying of laughter on the floor when Keith walks in, raising a brow at the scene.
Lance has a pillow raised and ready for launch at Pidge, who stood on the opposite side of the couch with a cushion poised to defend. Matt is one of their casualties.
"It never said I couldn't eat it." Pidge pulls down the skin under their eyes and stuck out their tongue, grinning as they dodge a thrown pillow. Lance is one pillow away from launching himself bodily at them. There is another taunt.
There goes the last pillow.
Lance gives a battle cry as he jumps over the couch, Pidge screeching before lunging out of the way and running around the couch. Matt is still dying in the middle, clutching his stomach with tears in his eyes. Keith has half a mind to just walk out of there. Before he moves Pidge crashes into his body and he barely keeps himself on his feet as he becomes a human-flesh shield.
"Hey! No fair! You can't use my boyfriend as a shield!" Lance tries to reach around, obviously not wanting to hurt Keith in his attempted murder of Pidge.
"You can't say shit, boy." They grin; Keith is moved side to side and dragged back in his wake. It was starting to make him dizzy.
"You can't treat me like this!" Lance stays put two feet away, stomping his foot like a child. Pidge lets go of Keith once they see Lance wouldn't attack. "I'm royalty!"
"Psh, you're not royalty." Lance gasps, and then glances from Pidge to Keith, then back. His grin is mischievous and Keith knows he's got something on his mind.
"But I will be." He says proudly, crossing his arms like he's won. Pidge raises a brow. "Once we get married I'll be a goddamn Queen!" He's got Keith under his arm, puffing out his chest.
"Wouldn't you be a King, then?" Keith raises a brow as Pidge bursts into giggles.
"Ehh, well. I mean, I guess. Technically."
Pidge is a genius at coding and new systems. Hunk is a genius at mechanics. And together? They're the people who brought the universe the first cutting edge prosthetics.
Sure, before, Galra tech had been the best. But now, Pidge and Hunk had taken one giant step ahead of the game.
It's glorious, really. It feels real. Much more real than the Galra tech. Shiro could actually feel the tips of his prosthetic arm's fingers. Could feel the technology working like muscles he's long since lost. It was just as powerful if not more so as his Galra arm.
And the best thing?
It had an Altean color scheme.
Well, the best thing was how it felt like his real arm but, he had to say the Altean color scheme had been the second best thing. It had been his gift and he loves it. He was unconscious for the reinstallation and when he woke up it was lightweight and painless. Shiro had been the first person to receive the new prosthetic technology.
Next was Matt.
Matt was incredibly excited about something else, on top of what Shiro liked, Matt loved that he could customize it. He could draw on it and make it light up with different colors, some of the extra things they put in there could be thought-activated. It really was something else.
After that, they made other prosthetics, more arms and legs, lost eyes and wings, paws and teeth. Their inventions began to be wanted all across the universe, spread by word of mouth of those who had gotten them first. Shiro doesn't know how they could do both commissioned prosthetics and stay awake for their paladin duties.
Shiro carries a couple blankets and pillows in his hands as he walks to their refurbished tinkering room, knowing they had probably fallen asleep working on something. When he walks through the door he sees Hunk spread out on the floor, snoozing away. Pidge was leaned against his side, laptop in their lap. Their head is hung low and their fingers aren't typing away at lightning speed.
Shiro smiles and comes over, carefully taking the laptop off their lap and sets it down a foot away, adding pillows under their heads and repositioning them. Pidge grumbles when they are moved, but they don't wake as Shiro spreads the blankets over them gently.
Overall, Shiro was really proud of his team and how far they had come. He wasn't blind as to say that they did it without any hiccups. He's made many mistakes he wishes he could erase but could only come to terms with and wish for forgiveness. He dims the lights in the room and leaves to wander the halls. As he walks along the halls with floor-to-ceiling windows and watches the endless black void stretch across the universe, he thinks there could have been something he could have done to lessen the overall damage. He understands some things aren't his fault, like his trauma with Galra, but his reaction to Keith could have been better.
All of their reactions could have been better. Except Lance.
Shiro watches his reflection, eyes gliding over the scar across the bridge of his nose. Following indented skin under his jaw and down his neck. Remembering the close calls, a lot of them reeling Lance back from a dangerous move when he was so sure Keith was right within arm's reach. Lance always yelled at him, that he was fine, that he shouldn't have stopped him, despite all the other scars Lance had gotten in his quest to bring Keith back, always so full of earnest intent. Shiro and the others have had their ears chewed out many a time after Keith's... After abandoning him.
Shiro feels like an idiot whenever he thinks about failing one of the people who was supposed to have his perpetual support. He feels like he doesn't deserve to be a leader of Voltron because of all of the signs he's missed of one of his team members spiraling downward. For all the times he's ever thought he'll be okay on his own or so he's being quiet than usual, that's just how Keith works.
For all the time when Keith was finally back that he'd been on edge because Keith was Galra and a druid and he'd taken back planets they've freed. For all the time he'd glared at who was his friend, who needed his support and help but instead turned his back with indistinct and unprecedented fear.
Shiro was sorry. He doesn't deserve the happiness he now has, the calmness he feels. Or, he just feels like he needs to be punished for being such an ass. He'd always thought Keith would lash out at him too, blame him, but he didn't. And after speaking with Lance, sitting at the helm and looking over planets, he understands why Keith doesn't act in the conventional sense of someone who had been wronged.
Keith was the kind of guy who would put his life on the line for others, but would never accept anyone else doing the same. He'll do what needs to be done at the sacrifice of his mental and physical health. He'll push and push and push and he won't blame others for wrong doings they've made against him. He'll get angry and simmer, and it'll take him a long time to accept them back into his life if they ever get graced with that again.
Shiro blinks as he walks into the commons room, seeing something just slightly out of place. There, lying on the couch, legs hanging off the arm rest and an arm off the side with a book open on his face, was Keith.
Sleeping.
Shiro covers his mouth to stifle his chuckle. Looks like Pidge and Hunk weren't the only two who slept in random places. He tiptoes over as quietly as he could; knowing Keith could wake up in a heartbeat, and pulls the blanket that rested along the back of the couch over him. He dares not move the book, which, on closer inspection, was actually a thick document on their current alliances and trades.
Lance would come and carry him to bed once he came back from his diplomatic journey with Coran to set up trade. Shiro thinks it should be soon, he'd hate for Keith to have to sleep on the couch all night. Feeling bold, he reaches out to pet the soft, silky white hairs on top of his head. He will never know why he ever felt scared of Keith.
The things he remembers, as Keith told them, about overlapping lives, makes things harder to understand. But, like Keith, he's started to takes things in stride.
After spending a small amount of time petting his head, amazingly not waking him up, Shiro makes his way back to wander the halls. He should find Matt before he persuades Allura to use her hover-chair for racing again.
"You know what's not fair? Allura's royalty, Keith's royalty, Lance is royalty-to-be, how come I can't be royalty?" Matt is sticking out his lips in a pout.
"That's because you need to be born or married into royalty." Coran explains, matter-of-factly. Matt looks around.
"Fine, then I'll marry Allura." He nods his head like he's made up his mind and stands up from his chair, walking around to where Allura was barely holding her amusement together, and hugs around her neck with a decided hmph.
"If anyone is marrying Allura, it would be Shiro." Hunk is quick to pipe up, messing with the food goo.
"So? I'll just marry him too, I wanna be royal!"
"You are royal." Pidge pushes up the bridge of their glasses up their nose. "A royal fool."
"Ooooohhh! Good one." Hunk grins as they high five. Keith is watching the scene with growing interest, snuggled up to Lance's side, who was engrossed in a document. Matt looks really offended, scoffing too many times for it to be anything but comical.
"Fucking rude. My own sister. Fuck you, gremlin." Matt flicks her off and falls into Allura's lap, fake sniffling. "Allura will protect me, won't you?" He's giving her puppy dog eyes and Keith can see this is all just fun, to be in the moment and building up their connection to one another. Allura smiles and pets his head like pat pat pat.
"Of course." Matt is grinning now, looking back at the non-believers.
"Hah."
"I'm telling."
"On who?"
"Shiro."
"Snitch. Shiro will protect me too, won't he, Allura?" The puppy dog eyes are back, blinking too many times. Allura stifles a laugh and nods.
"I'll make him protect you."
"Man, I'd really like some popcorn right about now." Lance whispers in her ear, slyly looking over the top of the document he was supposed to be reviewing but instead opted to watch the real-life drama unfold. Keith snickers and nods, he wonders if the others even know they're watching instead of doing their work.
"Maybe we can find something comparable."
They're arguing about something new when Shiro enters the room and everything goes quiet. He raises his eyes to witness Matt still comfortably in Allura's lap, arm around her shoulder as Allura makes sure his back is supported. They stare at each other for a few moments, everyone waiting for everyone else's reactions.
Matt crosses his legs and smirks.
"She's my wife now, called it." Shiro blinks. Then blinks again, and again, until Keith thinks he will finally just pivot on his heel and walk out of this weird ass conversation. But then Shiro walks up to take the seat Matt had occupied before and pets his head the same way Allura did.
"Sure." He says so simply, he and Allura exchanging glances that Keith couldn't read what was spoken, and that was the end of that.
Except now Pidge wanted to be royalty too.
"Ohh, no! Keith's off limits!" Lance says, bodily wrapping his long legs and arm around Keith like a cephalopod, either to protect him or cage him, Keith isn't sure which. It has him laughing, current issue about an uncooperative planet forgotten.
"Allura?" Hunk and Pidge look to her.
"Nuh-uh. I think three is enough people in one marriage, thank you." Matt says decidedly.
"Three's a crowd, bro."
"Hey, yo. I proved they loved me. I get to be in this marriage." Matt seemed so proud of himself. It was adorable.
"Well I can't marry Coran, he's like, four times older than me! No offense to him or whatever, but ya know. That's weird."
"Awh, cheer up Pidge. I think there was a planet we had already visited that had a princess that had yet to be courted." Allura pipes up.
Pidge seems to pause, weigh their options.
"For reals? Let's go. I'm game." They cheer, ready to up and go, when Shiro stopped them.
"Instead of getting into a marriage just to be royal, why not just become legally adopted?"
Now that was a game changer. It saved Pidge the awkward courting and possibly a failed marriage down the line, and thus the paladins had been therefore dubbed "Allura's children (and therefore Shiro's)". Except Matt. He gets to stay married to Shiro and Allura.
It was a lot easier to control his powers and know his limits, Keith thinks. If he thinks harder, he can visualize the energy flowing all around him as he stands around the commons room, watching the others play an Altean version of a board game. If he knew any better, he could almost describe it as something that happens on an acid trip, the colors morphing and changing, dancing around from person to thing and back.
Keith blinks when he feels a hand on his shoulder and the visual lava lamp is gone. Shiro smiles at him, gives him a squeeze on his shoulder that was nostalgic and comforting, he smiles back. He's wearing normal, western clothes, for once. Oddly enough, he doesn't feel naked without the use of his robes during resting days like he used too. Shiro has picked up on the shoulder pats again, usually to remind him he's there.
Keith grins as he sees Shiro look to Allura with the same love-sick eyes he gets from Lance, and follows his gaze. He stares, focuses, and hums, making Shiro turn his attention to him.
"Does Coran know?" Keith raises a brow, lips curling into a mischievous smile as he flicks his gaze to Allura then to Shiro. Besides the fact she was practically glowing, there were also a few subtle, ahem, hints. That, and Keith could see the shifting of quintessence along her abdominal. Shiro glances to her then back and once he sees Keith's infuriating grin and knowing look, his face turned beet red all the way up to his ears.
"Oh, god, no.." Shiro rubs down his face.
"But you do." Shiro takes a breath, trying to still the blush forcing its way down his neck as he nods.
"Does your future hubby?" Keith asks curiously as he sees Matt launch himself onto Allura's back. She barely lurches forward with how hard he tried to smack into her, demanding a piggy back ride because the game was "rigged". But he was just bad at playing it. Shiro flinches as he surveys the scene, wondering if he should step in.
"Not yet..."
"Alteans are really strong, so you don't have to worry about Matt hurting her. She could probably launch him into space from the ground." Shiro chuckles a bit and nods, sighing as he watches them.
"Yeah."
It was refreshing to see these types of relationships other than his and Lance's around the ship. This one-of-a-kind connection that was different between two people and two others, and the uniqueness of the group of people it connects and affects. He was glad to see everyone winding down on the stress, still plenty of it from diplomacy and trade, but at least they don't have to kill.
"So, when's the wedding?" Keith grins when Shiro's blush returns.
It had been a grueling five years of war, and then after it had gotten to become a long three years to get to the level of peace they are today. Keith and Allura being the two figureheads for peace. Keith takes the fear and hatred of Galra in stride, allowing for other races to voice their opinions and what they went through under Galra rule. Keith offered formal apologies and promised to help rebuild their society; they could scrap all things Galra if they wanted too, to keep their own culture.
It went like this on and on, until the future planets they visited got the message that the new King was understanding and kind, and then the anger directed towards him lessened. Keith was nearly always exhausted, as were the rest of the team. Trying to fix the damages of ten thousand years of conquest in a limited amount of time as possible was terribly hard. They were lucky they were able to defeat the empire in five years, thanks to ever growing rebel support.
But the team is tired. They've been away from earth for eight years. Away from the families they left without a word, no contact with the solar system that doesn't even know of the existence of other life forms. Keith suspects it is because the government's fears that their people will react badly to extraterrestrials. And haven lived with humans for a few centuries following his relocation, he would have to agree.
Pidge was now twenty-two. The youngest of them was twenty-two, only fourteen when fate threw them into the middle of intergalactic war. Keith could see the longing for home whenever they look out the windows to the expanse of stars, so unlike any places on earth to have such a dark sky as this to see anything.
That'll soon change, he think with a smile and he taps away on the keyboard in the control room, making marks on the map and taking notes. They're finally going home. They've done as best as they could with their mission to help everyone. Spent years on it, mostly just listening to people voice their anger and want for Keith's head despite him being the one to offer apologies and condolences and help.
The other paladins don't know yet, though.
First thing that needs to be done, is agree with Allura how they were going to make their first appearance. Should they send a transmission to first tell the American government they will be landing by the Garrison's empty desert, or should they just land there, and wait to make contact? Either way, they should be very slow and cautious about it. There's no telling that they won't be nuked out of fear.
A giant castle-ship landing with five giant robot lions? That's something that can scare anyone. Not to mention that Keith is Galra and he would scare anyone just by being seen. Of course, Keith does have the ability to change his genetic marker like Allura does. Can probably change his skin to be lighter, closer to a pale pastel purple and maybe even change the color of his eyes, but he wouldn't be able to change the sharp teeth or nails, or even get the Galra ears to hide away.
Of course, he'd never tried, either.
Keith had never felt the need to hide how he looks like, despite being able to change his appearance from his Altean genes, at will. He'd thought about it many times, but thought better of it. Lance had never shown any fear toward his appearance (except that time in S-1 when his fangs start to show, a rare case), and the others got over the hurdle at a relatively quick pace.
Keith looks to his right, seeing Lance curled up in the chair next to him, using the back as a head rest with his legs falling over the armrest. It probably isn't comfortable to sleep like that, but Lance was adamant about not wanting to go to bed until Keith did. Even still, he's sleeping soundly, his long limbs curled up in an uncomfortable position just so he could be near Keith. It was so sweet, it made his heart clench. It was a good type of feeling.
Keith likes to think that he was better at reading connections ever since he forced the timelines together. It didn't bother him so much as it did the others. Matt had told him how weird it was to have two different memories, that both happened, at the same time. It was like deja vu but you never knew which one was real. Of course, they both were, but which one was the ultimate real, or that's what Matt said. He never made a lot of sense with his wording.
The connections he knows are there, combined with the reactions he just now started to read and gouge, he thinks he can pinpoint his connection with others. The temperatures are warmer now than they were before. Especially with Lance. Keith could go on and go about Lance, really. From his character to his charisma and valor. Keith surveys him as he sleeps mouth half-open as he snoozes away. Lances poses as much encouragement to finish his work as he does a distraction.
Really, he should have waited in be-
"Papa?"
Keith blinks, looking over his shoulder to the open door. How had he not heard the slight swoosh of the door, nor the soft pit pat of feet as they slide against the castle tiles?
"Procell," Keith raises an arm to beckon them forward. The child Galra skitters to him in an instant, climbing up into his lap. "You're supposed to be asleep." He says softly, leaning his forehead on theirs and moving his ears forward so they touch Procell's. The intimate gesture familiar to him now.
"Bad dream..." They mumble, ears drooping. Keith pets their head, looking over the slope of their nose and at the expressive, golden eyes. His fingers threaded through the thick hair, gentle of any tangles. Momentarily, he's thrown back to the wreckage in the jungle. With Mammon's eyes dimming and his hair clumped with blood.
"It's alright, I'm here." Keith hugs them close, nuzzling at the proud Galran ears atop their head.
"Why's daddy sleeping here? Isn't his neck gon' hurt?" Keith looks to Lance, who grumbles at the noise they made, and smiles.
"It will. He's just waiting for me to finish up work." Keith goes back to his map and document, already so close to finishing it. "Did you want to go lay with him?" Procell nods and slides off his lap. Keith smiles as he watches from the corner of his eye Procell wiggle their way onto Lance's lap to rest.
Lance wakes up enough to unfurl his limbs and allow for Procell to get comfortable and curls back in around the small body. Keith's eyes go back to his work.
After a while, after the defeat of Zarkon, Keith had expressed to Lance about wanting to find Procell, to try and set things right for all the things he's done. To apologize and to beg for forgiveness for his transgressions. It took months to find any clue about the kit of a dead soldier from a fallen empire. It took longer to find out what happened. Lance had been completely supportive, especially when they learned Procell's second parent had been killed in a rebel uprising.
Procell had been orphaned and put into a backwards system to survive. Something Keith could relate too. When they found Procell, let's just say they were lucky Keith knew how to heal. From then on, Procell was taken into their custody and made to be their legal child with proper documentations. It had taken a while for the child to speak, especially after Keith had told the entire truth about what he's done. His only wish was to care for the child he bastardized and to give them the life they deserve: a happy one.
Keith closes the map and electronic documents once he was done, looking to the two slumbering figures. Procell had warmed up to him quickly after spending time with Lance, no doubt Lance had charmed his way into Procell's heart and gave more praise to Keith and his being than what was needed or warranted.
Watching them, it seemed like a dream.
"Lance.. Lance," Keith stands by their seat, tapping on his shoulder. "Let's go to bed." Lance blinks one eye open, watching Keith before he huffs a soft breath and nods. Procell was out like a light when Keith picks them up, cradling them to his chest. He watches as Lance stands and stretches his long limbs with a yawn, watching the muscles stretch and contract, until his arm is loosely wrapped around Keith's shoulders and he's being lead back to their room.
They kept Procell laid down between them in bed, as they wouldn't let go of Keith's shirt when they tried to tuck them in, in their own bed. Once Lance's head hits the pillow he was lights out. Keith smiles and turns off the lights with a flick of magic.
"I swear if Allura hadn't stopped him he would have probably ripped my hair out." Shiro is saying in a very traumatized tone, fizzy, weird, alien-alcoholic drink in hand and resting on the bar. Matt bursts into laughter, a flush on his cheeks from having five drinks already.
"But your hair is fine, riight?" Matt wiggles his brows. Shiro groans and smacks his head lightly against the counter. Keith is sitting at Shiro's other side and he rolls his eyes, sipping on his own fizzy-sweet drink.
"I'm sure you're exaggerating, Shiro. Coran wouldn't kill you just cuz you knocked up the princess." Matt is snickering as Shiro's face turns red, redder than the drunk flush gracing his face. Shiro groans as if he was actually in physical pain.
"No, Keith, you don't understand. He flipped a table." Matt is dying again, leaning on the counter as he attempts to suck on his drink through a straw, drunkenly spilling it down his chin.
"You're over exaggerating." Keith rolls his eyes at their antics. But, truth be told he did think he saw Coran be a little more on edge and protective of his make-shift daughter. Nervous waves rolling off him, probably because Allura was still so young in his eyes, and that he noticed her workload was still the same even if her belly was growing day by day. "He'll get over it. It's not like he can just fire the Black Paladin of Voltron. Or ground a Queen." Shiro lifts his head, eyes still worried.
"You think so...?" Keith sighs. Shiro was such a lightweight. He wasn't doing much better, already feeling himself wobble, even as he sits on the stool.
"Yes, I'm sure." Matt is on his next drink before another topic is reached. And on his seventeenth by the time they leave the bar half an hour later.
Matt is wobbling and holding onto Shiro's arm, pulling it front and back as he sings off-key. Shiro is still unbalanced on his feet, but he had since sobered up from his second and final drink, able to keep both himself and the drunken idiot from falling. Keith had slunk away back to his room, no doubt to find Lance and bask in his presence. He was sure lucky to have good friends, wasn't he? Even though they nearly always looked for opportunities to embarrass him.
Shiro drops Matt onto their bed in Allura's chamber, knowing he'd throw a fit if left in his own designated room, and slides off his shoes and jacket before letting Matt drunkenly roll around on the tops of the cover. Shiro rolls his eyes and leaves a glass of water and medicine by the bed. And a waste basket, just in case. Matt drank too much and never cared, even if he was throwing up his guts the next morning.
Now, where was the subject of his mind?
Shiro glances around the room, taking off his own clothes in favor of looser fitted clothes as he tries to think with his head muddled. Where would Allura be is she wasn't in bed? And she wasn't, or else Matt would have already rolled over her in his stupor. There were no extra lumps on the bed and under the covers. Shiro purses his lips at the thought of Allura training, as she had done in the very beginning after finding out.
He probably sounded like Coran now, too. He'd overheard him screech at Allura about what not to do because she was with child. And how she valiantly ignored all his protests. Shiro sauntered around the halls, letting the haze in his head clear into semi-coherency. He passes by the training area just in case, heaving a heavy sigh when he couldn't find a trace of her there. He knows she was strong, stronger than him, and not just physically. She was emotionally, mentally, and physically strong.
All around perfect.
Shiro heard the sure tale of soft bleeps of holographic typing as he passes the control room, dark from the nighttime sky and the castle's own scheduled day time long gone. Allura was sitting reclined in one of the chairs, moving things around on a flat holographic plane that looks like a bunch of thought-bubbles with Altean writings in them.
"Love?" He whispers as he comes closer. Allura's shoulders jump just a second before her head swivels around, the gorgeous and thick white rivets of her hair bouncing. "It's late, shouldn't you be sleeping?" His voice is soft, leaning over the back of her seat and hugs around her shoulders as she presses kisses to his cheek and neck with her full lips. Shiro sighs, relaxing under her touch. He wasn't drunk anymore, but being with her sure felt like he was.
"I'll be fine." She smiles, giving her growing tummy, already a few months in, a soft pat, pat. "Little one wouldn't let me sleep." She huffs, staring at her growing bulge in accusation. Shiro follows her gaze and puts his human palm flat against her belly, but feels nothing, raising a brow. Allura puffs out her cheek. "They just now stopped moving. I'm being framed." Shiro chuckles and shakes his head, kissing her cheek.
"What are you working on?" He asks, reading, with some difficulty, the Altean writing on the holo-pad.
"Keith and I have been thinking about how to make first contact with earth." Shiro's eyes widen.
"Earth? We're going back?" Well, duh, they were. But, now? That fast? He supposed it had been eight years, but he would have never thought he would step foot on earth again. Always thought he would stay in space, fighting, and dying in battle. He knows the others still have family, though, and not going back would not be possible. Allura nods.
"We are. It's gonna take a bit longer, since we have a few more diplomatic things to do on our way to the Milky-Way Galaxy and we still need to come up with a plan. But yes. Keith's been telling me how the others miss home and the families they left when Blue whisked them away." Shiro hums, resting his chin on the top of her head as she wrote some things and put them in more thought bubbles and lists.
"Still... You should go to sleep, it's really late." He kisses the top of her head again.
"I'm fine, Shiro." This time it was her turn to huff and roll her eyes. Shiro knew she could take care of herself, but that doesn't stop him from worrying. The last time he told himself not to worry about someone on his team; they didn't turn out so well. Shiro couldn't stop himself from pouting his lips.
"Allura." He whines, hoping to express how his unneeded worry needed to be placated. Allura raised her brow and turns her face minutely to look at him. They stare for a moment before she huffs out another breath and swipes away the holo-pad.
"Alright, alright. I'll go to sleep." Shiro barely keeps in a sigh of relief. Despite her being able to get up and walk on her own, Shiro couldn't help but hold out a hand for her take and lift her from the chair, one hand on her lower back and the other at her belly as Shiro led her back to their room.
Allura snorts loudly when the lights flickered on and she saw Matt strewn across the bed, legs falling off the side of the bed. She rolls her eyes and lets Shiro fetch her a glass of water and help brush her extravagant, long hair and threading it into a thick braid. All the while watching her with love-drunk eyes, looking from her face to her belly and then back, placing all kinds of gentle touches to her body. She has to admit, it was a bit nice being pampered.
"Keith, I can't.. I mean, I can but- what if I'm not a good father?" Shiro has his face pinched in worry, fiddling with his fingers and staring down at the floor. Keith sits next to him, watching him carefully.
"Shiro, please." He says, keeping his voice light. "You'll be fine. You'll be a fantastic father." Keith doesn't really know what brought this on, so close to Allura finally popping, but he supposes he can kinda understand. He'd had the same thought when in search for Procell, even if they weren't related by blood.
"But..."
"Oh, come on. If Lance and I can be parents, how hard can it be?" He says playfully. Because really, if an over-grown child and a half-breed manufactured freak that grew up without parents can raise a child, why wouldn't Shiro and Allura be able to bring up astonishing children? Shiro makes a face; partially wanting to laugh but the other half is conflicted. Keith raises a brow, wondering what was going through his head. "Shiro..." He starts, pursing his lips as he thinks he understands where his thoughts are going.
"Keith.." Shiro says back, glancing up before his gaze goes back, ashamed, to the tile floor.
"Shiro." Keith stresses.
"Keith." Shiro mimics him, looking up, practically frayed. His hair is mussed and messy from all the time Shiro runs his hand through his hair in the past ten minutes. "What if I.. Mess up?" Keith sighs and shrugs.
"That's what life is about, Shiro. You just try your best and believe. Besides, you definitely won't take the cake of being as worse a parent as Haggar and Zarkon." Keith makes a sour face that has Shiro chuckling. Good. "As long as you, you know, don't genetically manufacturer a child and try to take over the universe, I think you'll do fine."
Shiro is laughing then, feeling a weight has lifted off his shoulders.
"Thanks, Keith."
Keith had been the last person he thinks was going to be picked to help. Christ, this was awkward as hell and he had no idea what he was doing. Honestly, someone like Shay might have been better to be a nurse for Allura during, ahem, ya know.. Childbirth.
Luckily he didn't need to do anything that required him to do anything besides sitting by Allura's side, holding her hand as she screamed obscenities and nearly fracture the bones in his hand in her death grip. There are other nurses around from a nearby planet, recruited to help. Keith supposes he was only here on Allura's request, to make sure everything goes smoothly. And should there be too big a hiccup, he would jump in to keep everything going steady.
Apparently Altean births are very messy. Lots of blood and ear-splitting screams. Keith manages to charm his ears with thick air to act as earplugs so it doesn't leave him deaf. Even Shiro is left to be pacing outside the hospital-like room set up in the castle in preparation.
Keith tries to rub calming circles into her shoulder, sends soothing tingles through her body with his own quintessence that just barely helps her calm down. He's pretty sure Shiro is pacing a hole in the tiles while the other paladins and company try to calm him, tell him everything will be fine while Shiro protests why he couldn't be the room with his wife. He heard Coran say it wasn't proper, meaning not in Altean customs, for men to be in the room.
Which then prompted the question, why was Keith allowed, then?
Why was he indeed, he was sure Shiro would have been a better pillar of support for Allura's murderous screams as she tensed and panted. Next time, Altean customs and properness be damned because Keith was practically useless in this situation, except for when he rubs gently circles on her tummy and soothing the over-worked abdominal muscles.
It felt like forever until it was over. Allura heaving in giant breaths, covered in sweat and looking wiped out. The nurse maids take care of the new crying child while Keith kept his gaze firmly on Allura's face and kept working his magic to heal the strained muscles little by little.
Once the little flesh-potato was cleaned of blood and synovial fluid, it was wrapped up in a blanket and the bundle was handed to Allura after Keith helped to sit her up against the headboard of her bed. Keith watches, sitting in the seat by the bed, as Allura cradles the being to her chest. Keith very easily sees the flood of life, the energies connecting them. He thinks this is too intimate for him to watch, it wasn't his scene to witness.
"I'll go get Shiro." He says softly, pressing a chaste kiss to her temple in a familial way before he stands and takes meaningful steps towards the door.
"Keith," her voice stops him with a hand on the handle. He turns to look at her, tired, with dark eyes under her eyes and barely awake, but it was impossible to mistake the affection glistening in her still red eyes. "Thank you." She says gently, keeping her voice quiet, for everything, her gaze seemed to say. Keith smiles, returning the affectionate stare to her. He wasn't yet sure how he felt about a pudgy flesh child thing just a few minutes born, but he was probably going to grow attached to yet another addition of their ragtag team.
Keith sighs once he closes the door behind him, the others up in his face the second he door clicked shut, asking questions way too loudly. It was a good thing the air in his ears was still thick. He hushed them harshly, taking off the spell.
"She's fine. Shiro, go to her." Shiro perked up at that, bouncing on his feet.
"He can't!" Coran says, all for following the customs. Shiro pauses, not wanting to offend. Keith huffs and holds up his hand, still having claw marks from Allura's nails etched into his skin.
"He can and he will or I'll do this to your arm." Keith narrows his eyes at Coran who seemed to tense, weighing his options. After a whining groan, he huffs out a breath.
"Ooh... Alright." He secedes. Keith grinned triumphantly as Shiro darted into the room without further hesitation. "But I don't like it."
"Coran, your customs can go to hell." Keith mutters as Lance gently swipes his hands over the indentations of his skin gently, enjoying the soothing swipes of his heated skin. "I would much rather Shiro get clawed up instead of me." He pauses. "And why was I allowed to be in the room?" He asked, resisting crossing his arms when Lance pressed kisses to marred flesh.
"Ahh, well, you see. That's because Galra only have one sex organ." Coran says easily. Lance pauses in kissing a particular claw mark that scratched up his skin. Keith stares at him, and blinks owlishly.
"He has only one what now?" Pidge pushes the glasses up their face, interested in new information. Hunk was listening too, ready.
"Galra are hermaphroditus in nature." Coran smiles, happy to take his mind off of old broken customs. Lance stares at Coran then at Keith, eyes raking from his toes to his head and back down.
"Nuh-uh." He says, furrowing his brow. Keith is starting to blush, his cheeks starting to stain a dark purple.
"Oh, yes. Though, because Keith is a successful mixed breed, I'm not entirely sure how it would affect him." Coran seems to think.
"So, Keith can like, get preggers?" Pidge is raising a brow and her lips are twitching into a smirk.
"Pidge..." Keith says in warning.
"Better be careful, Lance. Don't want to get Keith pregnant before you're married." Pidge ignores him, and Keith is blushing up a storm when Lance grabs at the inside of his thigh, practically over his groin. Keith squeaks, shoving the hand away because Lance, the fuck, they were in public!
"He cannot. I'm pretty sure I know what I saw." Lance says, apparently completely unashamed to talk about their sex life while Keith is frozen in mortification at his side. Luckily Hunk was blushing too, so he wasn't the only one uncomfortable about Lance and Pidge's nonchalance about Keith's apparent ability to get knocked up.
"Well, you see, I can explain that." Coran, the ever so helpful advisor. "You see-"
"Nope! No, no. Okay. I'mma stop you right there, because like, okay. We love you Keith, and Coran, and Lance, but I really don't want to know about anything like that until we get to that bridge.." Hunk is trailing off.
Keith could kiss him, because he feels the sentiment.
"Oh, shall I then take you two?"
"And me!" Pidge pipes up, ready to get some knowledge.
"No." Keith huffs, taking deliberate breaths so he just wouldn't pass out from holding it in surprise.
"Aren't you curious to know if you can?" Pidge is asking, this time genuinely interested in the subject instead of using it to tease him.
"No." He huffs out. Lance whines.
"Keeeiiiitthhhh."
"Lance, no." Lance whines, pouting his lip out in exaggeration and making his eyes glisten with unfallen tears. How does he do that? Keith holds his own for seven long, drawn-out puppy-dog whines until he caves, cheeks hot and looking away. God, why couldn't Lance go on his own? He'd rather not listen to Coran go into mortifying detail about his biology.
Besides, he was sure the whole reproductive thing skipped his 'generation'. Inter-species breeding typically ended up with offspring that didn't have proper genetic material to reproduce, and he was completely fine with that. Since, case in point, he would only ever be with Lance and he would rather let Lance take control and do as he pleases. Either way, there wasn't any chance of either of them becoming with child.
At least, that's what he thought before Coran took them to the commons room for their Galra-friendly sex education. And how Coran went into such detailed explanation that it even had Lance and Pidge cringing. How they had different sects of Galra species with different mutations depending on the regions. But the easiest thing to understand was that, during times of "child birth", the body will physically (and amazingly, Coran noted, not painfully) morph from one sex to another.
It was mortifying to listen too, all the while debating whether he should block it all out. He definitely did at the last part, where Pidge had recovered from being traumatized and had henceforth compared him to a series of reef fish who had the same ability. As if that was all, Keith wished.
Pidge had gawked when she learned that Galra fetuses are not bubbled safely in a synovial sack, but the edges of their own version of the synovial sack were made of flexible, calcified bone. In short, it was practically a freaken egg. And the trepidation that ran through him was cold, and he wonders if he should say yes when Coran offers to take his blood to conduct a few lab tests to see if he had this ability.
And no. Nope. Not gonna happen. Not even when Lance gave him those puppy dog eyes. Keith shuts his eyes and hums, loudly. Singing 'LA LA LA' obnoxiously until Lance was able to assure him Lance wouldn't try to get him to do it.
It just freaked him out, okay? He'd rather live in the dark until it happens. Like Hunk said, cross that bridge when you get to it. It's been years and he still isn't with child. His face flushes when he thinks about the times Lance has stolen him away to bed. It's not like there were any condoms in space, and if Keith could really do whatever Coran was talking about, he would have been, ugh.. pregnant already.
Jeez, he felt like he had to whisper that word even in his head. Keith should really think next time about asking questions he would rather not know the answer too.
"Right, right. Then you aim and... Fire!" Lance's voice is soft, holding the laser gun in his hand and helping Procell aim at the target. They both whoop when it hits its mark, high-fiving as the target is automatically put up once again. "Try it yourself this time." Procell looks nervous but Lance gives them an encouraging smile, spotting the laser gun but not touching or aiming for them.
They were so cute, closing one eye before they remembered Lance's lesson previously, keep both eyes open! They opened their eyes, tongue sticking out in concentration. Lance had to stop himself from squealing and ruining their concentration. Keith had done the same thing every so often, unbeknownst to himself.
Procell takes a few moments to breathe before they shoot. They barely hit the mark, moving on to the next, again a barely there hit, until the next was a bullseye hit. Lance whooped again, petting their head.
"Wow, nice shootin'." Lance smiled, pride welling up in his chest. Keith would probably kill him if he knew he was teaching their child how to use weapons... But oh well. Procell is grinning, more fired up than before as a new set of marks are then brought up. Procell goes at them with more vigor and excitement than before, getting used to their new weapon. Lance sighs, like father like son, he supposed, as he watches Procell gain immediate proficiency. Except this time he feels an overwhelming amount of pride building up in his chest.
Lance watches them hit target after target and grins as they turn back, sharp teeth gleaming under the light.
"Ready for some fun?" Lance grins, turning on the competitive play mode. Of course, like any good father, he went easy on Procell. And of course, Procell actually gave him a run for his money once he was used to the game.
They were mid-game when Keith strolled in, eyes catching them both like hawks. Lance trips, luckily saving his face from impact with his hand as Procell stifles a giggle and hides their laser behind their back as Lance does the same when he sat up.
"K-Keith, uhh, what're you doing here?" Keith raises a brow at the obvious attempt to hide the culprits. Lance has the decency to look like he's caught in headlights while Procell just purses his lips and looks down, ears drooping. Keith plays along like he was peeved.
"Allura has an assignment for you." He starts, that part was the truth. "I was told you'd be here... Didn't expect Procell to be here, though. Using laser guns." He trails off, watching Lance pale just slightly as Keith slides his eyes over to Procell. He'd never burst out in anger at them before, and he wonders if someone had with how Procell seems to make himself smaller even though his voice is soft.
"Keith, look-"
"I mean, they'd probably better with swords." Keith says, cutting him off from his apologizing tirade. His lips quirk up in a grin as Procell snaps his head up, golden eyes wide and mouth dropped in shock. Lance mimics the child, mouth hanging open and gawking. Keith couldn't help but chuckle and holds out a hand to help him up. "What? Think he'd only be good with long range weapons?"
Lance feels giddy acceptance bubble in his chest as he grips Keith's hand and pulls himself up in one fell swoop. He would always love how he was an entire head taller than Keith. His lips connect with his forehead and he looks to Procell, who was still shell-shocked.
"End simulation." Lance calls the game, hugging Keith around his shoulders.
"So, what do you think? Want to try swords?" Keith brings Procell's attention back to him. Their eyes widen and they squeal, nodding too quick, Keith thinks they might hurt themselves. Procell launches at them, Keith oofing when they collide with his abdomen in a tight, elated hug. Keith chuckles, kissing the top of his head.
"Now, let's see which one you like."
Keith has Procell in his lap, gripping Red's controls loosely and listening to the rumble in his head.
"Can you hear her?" He asks, giving a smile at Red's chirping clicks of happiness. Then huffing of amusement as Procell makes a face.
"No..." Keith chuckles himself, quietly scolding Red for making fun of his child's inability to connect.
"It's alright. Maybe someday you will." He lets Procell's hands take the controls, Keith's over his. "Ready?" Procell's pout turns into a grin and he nods. Keith hums, moving the joysticks forward. Red's body lurches, running off the cliff they were perched on. The castle is in the distance, parked to refuel and replenish supplies. Keith tells Procell which buttons to press to activate Red's thrusters for flight and they take off to the sky.
The flight was easy, the sky was clear; Procell couldn't crash into anything if he tried. Keith lets him steer for a while, grinning as he tries tricks and cheering when he was able to do a flip. Red's voice a tinkering laugh in his head. The planet ahead familiar to his eyes and he helps Procell land on the little strip of land on the planet of near-water. Lance is already there, walking the docks and buying textiles. Blue is by Red, laying on her stomach and her head laid on her paws. Red lets them out before mimicking Blue's position, ominous looking to the passerby's.
Procell runs through the crowd, easily weaving through the multitude of aliens and latching onto Lance's arm, grin wide and eyes twinkling as he tells retells how Red let him pilot her. Granted, Keith was there, and that was probably the only reason why Red let him, that but was beside the point because it was so totally wicked!
Keith saddles up to Lance's other side, kissing his cheek in greeting as he lets Procell go on and on, about the tricks he made Red do, about the attack and defense moves Shiro taught him. How Coran taught him how to bring up the universe simulator and how to use it. How Pidge and Hunk promised to make him a wrist-computer.
"Paladin!" Keith hears at the end of the dock. He raises his eyes, seeing Tszana waving a thick seal-like paw. Keith steers them over to the edge where they sat, hide darker during the "summer" of their planet. The gems in barrels around them glisten in the sun. This time, Keith doesn't hesitate to come close, sitting with his legs tucked under him by the very edge. Tszana is touching his face, poking at the gem in his ear in wonder. Thick, blubbery hands gliding over the beautiful patterns on both hands.
Tszana takes their time to look over the gems, bought from her store. They are pensive, confused, before accepting they know Keith. Procell stands close to Lance, brows furrows and looking up in question. Lance just smiles a bit and shrugs.
"Who..?" Tszana gestures to the other two, narrowing their inky eyes at Procell who shrunk back against the gaze.
"The Blue Paladin, my lover, and my child." Keith smiles, beckoning them over. Procell wavers, tiptoeing forward and snuggling up to Keith's side, under his arm, as Tszana's eyes follow.
"Child? Doesn't smell like Red Paladin..." They say suspiciously, Keith thinks they probably still have trouble with other Galra.
"Not by blood, but my child. Procell." Keith smiles, hugging Procell closer and kissing the top of their head. Lance deciding to plop down cross-legged next to them, following the half-circle they are sitting in. Tszana narrows their eyes at Lance, looking between them.
"Mate," Tszana greets and Lance gives them a name to go with their face. "Spawn, Procell." They then give a sharp-toothed smile. "Need magnetite more?"
"No, we actually wanted to buy gems, for Procell." Tszana looks to them again, then to Keith.
"Like your ear?" Keith nods; haven heard from Allura how Procell had been going on and on about wanting gems melded in his ears. Procell's face lights up instantly, his excitement overshadowing his fear. Keith looks to Lance and they share a look. They're spoiling Procell too much. Well, unless Procell grows up to be a spoiled child then it would be okay to divulge their only (for now) child.
Tszana smiles and squeals, their voice trilling at a high pitch before they dive into the waters underneath. Procell crawls to the edge and looks in, furrowing his brow.
"Where're they going?" Lance chuckles and pulls them back from the water by the neck of his shirt.
"They'll be back. Probably going to get the goods."
Tszana was not gone long, gills flapping closed as they land themselves back onto the pier. Water drips from their body and there is a pearly pink box in their hand. They reach around Keith to get the crystal lantern and turns it on, illuminating them on the darkening pier.
Procell shuts his eyes tight when Tszana starts to work, making no mistakes despite his ears twitching and body shivering the colder it got. The gem was dark blue, intricate lines spreading around the inside ear flap and peeking out from the back of the ear, under the thick mop of hair. Keith smiles as he admired the fine needle work once Tszana was done.
They trill and grin, telling it was a gift and offering to give Lance the same treatment, only for him to raise his hands and shake his head.
Keith snickers, pursing his lips so he doesn't make too much noise, Lance running his hands up his sides in an attempt to get him to 'loosen up'.
Of course, he was already 'loosened up', ready to get the show on the road as he tenses his thighs and brings Lance closer. Lance is barely able to hold in a groan, grinning at the challenge. The blanket is pulled up high on his back, staying just under his shoulder blades. Keith is about ready to take Lance head on, who cares if they're a bit loud? The room was supposed to be sound proof.
Keith tilts his head back when Lance leans forward to press kisses on his neck, hips pressing forward with a soft groan. Keith rolls his hips in time, hooking one arm around Lance's neck. His back arches off the bed when Lance snaps his hips forward. Keith can feel the grin against his neck as he moans. Keith growls playfully, kneading his palm down his back as Lance pins his free hand by his head.
Heat built up quick, their panting breaths mingling during sloppy kisses. Keith's grin doesn't falter as he tries to gain the upper hand, even as he's being pinned.
They have these types of trysts sometimes. These playful moments during love making where they try to get the upper hand and wrestle for who gets to control the pace. They always turn into something more, with teasing whispers and laughter at nonsensical things.
Lance pauses in the middle of a particularly dirty sentence when they hear the door swoosh open. They freeze, eyes darting to the open door and thanking all the stars that they had half the mind to keep the blanket over them while they weren't in the safety and privacy comfort of their Lion's bunkers.
Procell is standing in between the doorway, staring back at them with a tilt in their head. Their ears flop with the tilt, looking at them confused as they tense. Lance has to bite the inside of his cheek to not make a sound.
"What're you doing?" Procell asks innocently, haven come here for a purpose other than to disrupt them.
Keith and Lance glance to each other, eyes portraying the same message: what the fuck were they going to tell him?
The door was supposed to be locked! But considering how Keith and Lance have raised a druid-Galra child, the lock was pretty much useless against anyone. Procell probably even opened It without knowing it was locked… Or they literally just forgot to lock it.
Lance glances over his shoulder, a nervous grin on his lips.
"Twister!"
Keith could literally, in that moment, hit him. But he doesn't. Keith didn't really have anything better.
"Twister? Is that a human thing?"
"Yesssssir." Lance lengthens his word. "So, anything you needed pumpkin?" He asks, keeping up his nonchalant attitude even though Keith could feel his heart hammer against his chest.
"Oh, Hunk and Pidge are going to the bazaar when we dock, can I go with them? Pleaaase?"
Lance locks eyes with Keith's as if they are really considering it instead of just agreeing for the sake of getting their child away from a scene they should not witness.
Lance hums and nods.
"Sure, I don't mind. Procell can go, can't he honey?" Lance turns to Keith again. Keith tries to steady his voice and he nods, voicing the affirmative. Procell lights up in a smile and shuts the door as he leaves.
They hold their breath for a few seconds as they listen to anymore oncoming noise and let out a big sigh when nothing came.
"Oh my god…" Lance groans, rubbing a hand down his face. "I can't believe that actually happened. I thought that was only like movie-type shit?" Lance is complaining, Keith was still trying to relax his muscles. He has half a mind to swipe his arm in the air to lock the door, just in case.
In the next second, though, mischievous Lance was back, face crowing Keith's with a sly grin.
"Shall we?"
Keith blushes, astonished at his prowess and ability to get over that speed bump in a snap while he was still rather frozen. Lance was giving him that look, though, and his body wasn't saying no as Lance's hands started to wander.
Keith will deal with it later.
Blankets are strewn across the control deck floor, along with many, many pillows. Keith lays on a thick layer of fabrics as he stares at the holographic earth floating, safe and unaffected, in its designated rotation around the sun.
They were going home.
After eight long, grueling years. It was a miracle, Keith thought. Nearly all of it. His circumstance, created to be the end, only to be part of the group to save it. It was a miracle he had survived everything, that he had Lance by his side. Keith wasn't religious, not by a long shot, but he was just starting to believe in fate and destiny.
That was why he was on the control deck alone in the middle of the night. The other paladins off on missions. Lance was with Allura and Hunk at a conference, Pidge and Shiro had gone off to a nearby planet to buy supplies, Procell tagging along just to see new sights. Coran had long since left for bed and Matt.. Well, he was busy babysitting.
Keith had thought about earth, what little it could mean to him without a certain group of people. That throughout all his years on the dirtball of a planet that he could scarcely remember, he would only ever stay for his team. No doubt his little shack in the dessert was long destroyed by expanding construction. Who knows how advanced humanity has gotten with its sciences. Probably not as far as Alteans or Galra, but when they left they were at the pinnacle of scientific breakthroughs.
Keith sighs, curling the blanket around him further to protect against the cold, frigid air on the control deck, only the private rooms having heat to preserve power. He and Allura had talked in depth about how to make their appearance, and still they have no clue. In one wormhole jump they will be in the Milky Way Galaxy, four planets away from home. The rest are excited, restless, hands shaking in trepidation. Keith sees them fiddle with their fingers from the corner of his eye when they think no one is looking.
They are all thinking the same thing: how much has changed since they've been gone?
How have their families been? And how will the people react to their return. Not only to Shiro and Matt, who have been presumed dead and blamed on pilot error, but to the rest of the paladins? To Allura and Coran? To Keith and Procell?
The uncertainty plagues them all, those who have family to come back to are plagued most of all. He hears Matt console Pidge about her decision to find them, leaving Colleen Holt alone on their desolate home planet. Would she still be there, waiting for their return all the while cursing the Garrison for the presumed death of her entire family? Surely the Garrison had named them all missing and presumed dead after they left with Blue.
How would they react to their return? How do they explain they'd been protecting the universe from certain peril that they couldn't even spare one day to return and let their families know they are, at least, alive?
Keith stares at the slowly rotating hologram, its blue oceans and white snowcaps.
They had agreed upon landing the castle-ship on Garrison ground, in the empty space of desert where it resides. The lions to be make touch down first, to where they could protect the castle if there was an inevitable altercation. But Keith doubts human's ability to get past the castle shield with their current technology. And after touchdown, Allura would speak on the speakers, telling them they came in peace. And then they would all come out, one by one, to be scrutinized and aimed at with suspicion, by both ammunition and media.
Keith takes another breath. He and Procell would not come out. Not yet, at least. They would wait... And wait.. Until Lance is convinced they won't be in danger. Keith has to remind him time and time again that the precaution was unnecessary, but Lance would not be swayed until Keith gave in to his request.
"Keith?" Think of the devil and he shall appear. Keith turns his head, watching as Lance stride over to his weird nesting ground in full paladin garb. "Shouldn't you be sleeping? Big day is coming soon." He smiles, his eyes glimmering under the starry hologram reflections. He takes off the paladin boots, setting them to the side as he crawls to rest on the blankets at Keith's side. Keith sighs and leans against his shoulder, uncaring of how the shoulder pads are uncomfortable.
"Couldn't sleep." Keith murmurs. "Thinking." Lance moves the hair at his cheek away, kissing his temple.
"About..?" Keith watches the hologram. Wondering if he should voice his actual concerns. He weighs the options, and he supposes if he doesn't say it now Lance will get it out of him eventually, and possibly at the wrong time.
".. If your family will like me or not." He says quietly. He supposes everyone has something against the Galra, but as far as humans go, they don't need any kind of prompting to reject something different. Like aliens. Especially an alien with too big cat ears, purple skin, and glaring yellow eyes.
Lance moves his arm around Keith's shoulders. His breast plate wasn't any less uncomfortable as he was hugged.
"Of course they'd like you, Keith." He says, playing with the strand of his hair. "I mean, sure, they'd probably be surprised my future husband and my child are purple cat people but who's to police love?" Keith huffs out a small laugh. Leave it to Lance to dissuade his fears temporarily.
"Hey." Keith blinks, brought back from a momentary lapse in thought as he glances up to meet Lance's gaze. "It'll be alright. I've got your back." Keith studies the determination glinting in his eyes, the set of his jaw, and gives Lance a natural smile.
"I know. You always do."
Keith leans against his shoulder again, pretending to be comfortable until his annoyance at Lance's armor was palpable. Lance left to unwind from his mission and came back nearly an hour later, freshly dressed in pajamas and two hot cups of, what could nearly pass as, hot chocolate.
And there they sat, sipping on hot beverages and just watching the hologram spin on its axis. It was so calm, like they would return and that is how their life will be. The happy ever after they deserve after years of war. And there they stayed. Hours later, paladin after paladin, and castle occupant after castle occupant joined them with their own bundles of blankets and drinks, adding on to the nesting ground until it covered nearly all the extra space on the control deck.
Unspoken, tonight they would go home.
Tonight, a new chapter of their life will be written. One hopefully, that will be away from the bloodshed they had all been accustomed too. One that is so incredibly happy and peaceful critiques will call their story boring.
No one sleeps, sharing glances and nervous smiles. They look at Allura as she stands, haven given off their new born to Shiro to cradle, and takes the few steps to the control station. She hovers her hands over the circular bumps of the pillars.
Keith's attention is brought to Lance as he threads their hands together.
"Ready?"
Lance squeezes his hand. Keith squeezes back, offering his answer as he looks back at the holographic earth one last time before it glitches and disappears.
"Wormhole opening."
Lance squeezes his hand tighter, Keith could feel the tension in his shoulders. To his left he can already hear Hunk crying, mumbling his relief. Matt is next to fall, then Pidge. Lance is on the edge of it, the biggest grin on his face.
"We're going home."
Keith smiles at the wistful tone Lance uses, watching carefully the stretched atoms that deform every time they perform a jump. Procell is asleep next to them, tired out from adventure.
"Home,"
Keith murmurs back, a bubbling starting in his chest at the word having meaning. Keith doesn't blink as the castle-ship surges forward. His elation growing every half tick as it finally started to sink in, to him, to everyone.
They're finally going home.
Kosmonaut: Russian. English: Cosmonaut. April 12, 1961 Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel into space.
Sputnik: Russian. English: Satellite. Sputnik 1 was successfully launched by the Soviet Union in 1957. The world's first artificial satellite took 98 minutes to complete one orbit around the earth on its elliptical path.
Vostok: Russian. Translated as East. Spacecraft created by the Soviet Union for space travel. Vostok belonged to the Vostok Programme of six manned spacecrafts developed in secret to compete against the United State's Project Mercury.
Apollo 13: The seventh manned mission in the American Apollo Space Program and was intended to be the third spacecraft to land on the moon. Two days after launch, a malfunction happened mid-exploration. The malfunction was caused by an explosion and rupture of oxygen tank no. 2 in the service module. The explosion ruptured a line or damaged a valve in the no. 1 oxygen tank, causing it to lose oxygen rapidly. The service module bay no.4 cover was blown off. All oxygen stores were lost within about 3 hours, along with loss of water, electrical power, and use of the propulsion system. Apollo 13 astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert land safely, against all odds, back on earth with total time of voyage at 142 hours.
Cassini: Part of the Cassini Mission to Saturn. Cassini-Huygens is an unmanned space probe that includes a Saturn orbiter (Cassini) and a lander (Huygens) for the moon Titan. Fourth space probe to visit Saturn and was launched on October 15, 1997. Huygens separated from Cassini in 2005. As of November 30, 2016, Cassini entered the final phase of the project: it will drive through the outer ring of Saturn 20 times, once every seven days. The first pass of the rings took place on December 4, 2016. Cassini is set for destruction this year by diving into Saturn.
New Horizons: The first mission to the Pluto System and the Kuiper Belt. Launched January 19, 2006. On December 16, 2014, New Horizons reaches Pluto, the first spacecraft to explore it. As part of an extended mission, currently pending NASA approval, New Horizons is expected to examine other icy planets in the Kuiper Belt. Flyby of Kuiper Belt Object 2014 MU69 is expected to take place on January 1, 2019.
Author's Note: Thank you for sticking around! I hoped you liked the story and the series, I enjoyed writing it a lot. Thanks for all the kudos and comments, they really helped me get this last one out there. I hope you enjoyed the really sappy happy ending that is, yet again, a type of cliffhanger! I may or may not write a second chapter to this. At least the cliffhanger is a happy one right? Let your imaginations roam about their newly returned life! Be it happy or dramatic.
Thanks a bunch for supporting my story!