Lance tore off down the hall at full speed after Pidge had told him that Keith had been found by Shiro. He feared the worst, hauling ass down to the bedrooms and skidding to a halt as Shiro walked out of Keith's room. "Shiro!"

"Lance," Shiro said, grabbing his arm. "Calm down. He'll live."

"That doesn't give me confidence, Shiro," Lance said. "What does that mean, he'll live?"

Shiro sighed, shutting Keith's door and pulling Lance away. "The Blades got ambushed by Haggar's Druids. Kolivan said that he, Keith, and Narya were lucky to get out alive," he said. "Krolia didn't make it, but Keith…one of the Druids got a lucky strike. The blade went through Keith's back and through his chest. When we got him stabilized, Kolivan noticed a change starting in him."

"What?" Lance asked. "What kind of change?"

"His Galran DNA is taking over," Shiro said. "We don't know how fast it'll spread or if it'll slow, but right now, he's got splotches of patchy purple skin and fur popping up."

Lance sighed. "He's not going to like that," he said.

Shiro shook his head. "No, he won't," he said. "Look…we need someone in there in case he wakes up. I can't be because I've been helping Allura with getting the teludav reconfigured. Would you mind-?"

"No," Lance said, moving past Shiro and making his way towards Keith's room. He walked in and sat on the chair in the corner, sighing softly as he looked at Keith laying on the bed. "You idiot…" He turned and rested his head against the wall, looking down at Keith before his eyes drooped closed.

A day later, Keith sighed as he started waking up. He looked around and blinked slowly, groaning a bit as he lifted his head up and rubbed his eyes. He let his hands fall and he sat up, his eyes landing on Lance. "Ugh…. maybe I am dead," he muttered. "Wake up, idiot." He grabbed the pillow and flung it at Lance, knocking him onto the floor.

Lance yelped and sat up, looking around. "Keith," he said, putting his hand on his chest. "You're awake. Thank God." He tossed the pillow onto the bed and sat back in the chair, sighing softly. "You feel alright?"

"Itchy," Keith said, absentmindedly scratching at his arms. "Where's my mom? Last thing I remember was fighting Macidus and Mom yelling at me to get out of the way before I felt the blade in my back."

Lance sighed softly as he looked down. "When Kolivan and Narya brought you back to the Castle…Kolivan said that Krolia didn't make it," he whispered. "She went after Macidus while Narya tended to you, but when Kolivan went to find your mom, Macidus was standing over her body. Kolivan ripped Macidus in half, and he took Krolia back to the Blades outpost to bury her."

Keith's hands clenched as tears fell down his cheeks. "That bastard," he growled, his hands shaking against the blankets. "I'll fucking kill him."

"Keith," Lance said, putting his hand on his friend's. "Keith, calm down. Macidus is already dead, man. Kolivan took care of him." He sighed softly, looking at his friend and he knew it was now or never. "Look, there's something else you need to know."

"What?" Keith snapped, glaring at Lance as his eyes turned yellow. He ripped his hand away from Lance and narrowed his eyes. "What the hell else—" He stopped when he moved his hand up, his eyes going wide. "What in the hell?"

"Whatever Macidus and the Druids did to you, your Galran DNA is coming out," Lance whispered. "It's turning you more Galra then human."

"No!" Keith growled, getting up and shoving past Lance and running to the mirror, ripping his shirt off and looking at the still healing wound from the sword as well as the splotches of purple fur and skin starting to line his body. "No!"

"Keith," Lance said, getting up and putting his hand on Keith's shoulder. "It isn't the end of the world. Krolia said that this might happen, right?"

"Not for a long time," Keith said. He sighed and punched his mirror, shattering it and sending glass to the floor. "Now what are they going to think of me?"

"They won't think any different of you," Lance said. "Just like I don't." He took Keith's arm and pulled the bits of glass from his hand, sighing softly as he wrapped it up. "Listen, just because you're going purple and fuzzy doesn't take away from the Keith we all know and love, ok? It just means you look different. It doesn't matter."

"What about Allura?" Keith asked. "She had a clear problem with me being half-Galra before. Now that I'm looking like one?"

Lance sighed. "And she apologized for the hateful things she said and the looks she gave you," he said. "Allura won't care. Shiro won't care. Pidge, Hunk, Coran, none of them will care. I sure as hell don't."

Keith looked at Lance and cocked an eyebrow, pulling away from him. "Sure, Lance. Tell yourself that now."

"I'm serious, Keith!" Lance snapped, making the former Red Paladin freeze in place. "I never cared how you looked. I never cared about beating your times in the Garrison or if we were 'rivals' or any of that crap! I only ever cared about you, and hearing you doubt yourself right now makes me so goddamn mad!"

Keith blinked when Lance snapped, having only heard it a couple of times and never directed at him. "Why do you care what I look like?" he asked. "Why care about me at all? You're always all over every woman we meet, so why bother to look like you care now?"

"I don't care what you look like. You could be green with yellow splotches and tentacles for limbs and a beak for a mouth and I wouldn't care," Lance said. "You're half-Galra, so what? I mean, do you really think the last name McClain's Cuban? Hell no! Everyone's half-something. You just happen to be half purple fuzzy alien, and you can use what you are to prove that not all of the Galra are bad. Krolia, Kolivan, Narya, Acxa, the rest of the Blades. Not all of the Galra are bad, and if people can't see that, maybe they're the ones that need to take a look in the mirror."

Lance walked over and stood behind Keith, wrapping his arms around him tightly and resting his chin on Keith's shoulder. "You just have to know how to look at the good side and not stare into the bad. Staring at the bad is a good way to lose yourself."

Keith nodded softly, relaxing back against Lance. He knew Lance was right, and he'd never openly admit it. He sighed softly, putting his hands against Lance's arms. "Thanks, Lance," he whispered. "I was…so caught up in how I looked that…I didn't think about how I could use it to help people, not hurt them. I…I was acting stupidly."

Lance nodded, giving Keith a squeeze. "You were," he said. "But, I love you anyway. What's life without a little bit of stupidity?"

"You'd be the expert on that," Keith said with a smirk, elbowing Lance in the stomach playfully.

"Oh, screw you," Lance laughed, rubbing his stomach.

Keith just grinned, showing off his newly grown in fangs. "If you think you're man enough," he said with a teasing growl. He didn't expect Lance to lunge and pin him to the bed, looking up at the Blue Paladin and realizing Lance was straddling his waist and had locked Keith down in a tight grip.

"I think I am," Lance said. He looked down at Keith, his eyes scanning his face.

"What?" Keith asked.

Lance surged forward and kissed Keith, his hands tangling with Keith's above their heads. After a minute, he pulled away, Keith's face red and both men panting for breath. "Lance…what the hell?" Keith asked, noticing now that their hands were laced together, and Lance seemed to be pushing his hips against Keith's.

"I don't care about how look because I love you no matter what. Like I said, you could be green with yellow splotches and tentacles for limbs and a beak for a mouth and I wouldn't care because you'd still be Keith Kogane. The one person I give a damn about more than myself."

Keith smiled, leaning up and kissing Lance again. "About damn time you said it, idiot," he said. "I knew you loved me, and I loved you for a while, but you always chased girls and I thought I was being stupid. Which was why I was always ragging on you and being a jerk. It's about damn time you said it, even if it did take me almost dying."

"Yeah, well, no more of that," Lance said, snickering against Keith's neck.

Neither man knew what the future would hold for them, but as long as they were together and working with Voltron, they knew a good future would happen.