"KEITH!" Everyone exclaimed as he came into the control room on the castle and everyone lunged at him with such force that he was tackled to the ground.
"We were so scared!" Hunk wailed, tears streaming down his face.
"Yeah man! What the hell!" Lance scolded him. He seemed more angry than sad. "Why would you just throw your life away like that? You know how much we all care about you…"
Keith sighed and looked at Allura. He had never seen this expression on her face before. She looked hurt, betrayed, more upset than he'd ever seen her before. He suddenly felt incredibly guilty. When he was making this sacrifice he didn't even consider how much it would hurt the people he cared about most.
Of course during the act itself he thought about the paladins. He thought about all the happy moments they shared and how they truly had become his family. And Allura…He had always felt something for her. Something stronger than the bonds with the other paladins. With her, he felt like she needed him as much as he needed her. He had only ever felt that strong bond with Shiro. But the feelings he had for Allura were different than the ones he had for Shiro. Something about her made his heart beat increase, and his chest grow warm. He had a feeling like he wanted to hug her and never let go. Like he wanted to be at her side for eternity. And deep down he knew the true nature of his feelings, but he also knew that she would never return them. So that's why he left with the blades. Perhaps if he distanced himself from her he would be able to move on. But now here he was, back in her arms, along with everyone else's.
"Please Keith…" she begs him. "Please don't do that again."
He didn't say anything, because at that moment Lotor strode in with a smug grin on his face. He looked over at Keith and the other paladins helping him up off of the control room floor and smirked.
"You're welcome." Lotor says. Keith just glares at him.
"For what?" He growls and subtly moves to stand in front of the paladins.
"For saving your life, and everyone's lives for that matter." Lotor reminds him. Keith only rolls his eyes and looks away.
"If my plan had gone through I would have also-" Keith tries to explain but Lotor cuts him off.
"Crashing your ship into the particle barrier would have been a meaningless sacrifice." Lotor tells him and a chill ran down Keith's spine. "It was extremely powerful, and even if your ship had managed to dismantle the barrier, the rebels would still have to destroy the weapon underneath it. And that would have taken much longer, and Naxella would have exploded."
"He's right." Shiro says and Keith felt betrayed as he looked at Shiro. "Lotor was the only one who could save us. His ship had the only weapon capable of destroying the barrier and the bomb. Without him, none of us would be here. Thank you, Lotor." Shiro says robotically.
"You're most welcome esteemed Black Paladin." Lotor replies and places his fist over his heart and bows his head slightly. "Now, I did want to have a discussion-" He's interrupted by Keith leaving the room in a rush.
Allura's eyes watered a bit and she moved to go after him, making something snap in Lotor and his eyes widen when he sees the worry and something else in Allura's eyes. Shiro's hand on Allura's shoulder stops her in her endeavors to go after Keith.
"I know you care about him Allura." Shiro tells her. "We all do. But he's been through a lot and needs to rest. We can fill him in on this meeting with Lotor once he's cleared his head a bit." Shiro instructs her and with one last forlorn look at the door Allura bows her head and goes back to stand beside Shiro and the other paladins. "Now Prince Lotor, you were-" Shiro looks confused when he sees that Lotor's attention is now also on the door.
Lotor's eyes were narrowed, and he appraised the door with suspicion and a look of envy on his features. These features solidified even more when he looked at Allura and saw her looking upon the door with fondness, and worry sparkling in her crystal blue eyes. Lotor let himself frown at her expression.
"Lotor?" Shiro repeats, confused this time.
Lotor's expression immediately changes from one of jealousy to a calm and diplomatic one.
"Yes. Dear paladins and lovely princess." He addresses and Allura frowns at his address, making Lotor falter for a moment before regaining his composure. "After being exiled by my parents I have begun a new quest to seek revenge on them. If their precious Empire is more important to them than their own son well, then what better revenge than destroying it? And since I know that that is your mission as well I feel that I can be of service to you. After all, I do have plenty of information on the Empire that I know the Coalition would be very happy to have. So what I am asking is if you would allow me to join your Coalition, and be of assistance in taking down my parents Empire?" He offers.
The paladins all looked at each other before turning back to Lotor.
Reluctantly they ultimately let him join. After what happened on Naxella, they realized that the Galra Empire was growing stronger at a much more rapid rate than they were expecting. They would have to strike immediately if they were to be able to defeat it. And since Lotor was able to save them when they were unable to save themselves, he would indeed be a valuable asset to the team. No one really liked it, but they had to put their own prejudices and feelings aside for the sake of their cause.
Allura knocked on Keith's door after the meeting. She knew that Keith wouldn't take it well, so she wanted to be the one to break it to him, since Shiro seemed…not himself…lately and Allura was the only other person everyone knew he wouldn't argue against or snap at. Everyone knew that Allura's decisions are the only ones that Keith would ever fully obey. Even when Shiro wanted him to pilot the Black Lion he initially refused, and it was only because of the team's encouragement that he agreed. So Allura was clearly the only one who could get him to comply to letting Lotor stay at the castle and be part of the Coalition.
When Keith's door hissed open Allura looked up and opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. Her eyes went wide and her face had heated up. Keith was rubbing his hair dry with a towel, and he only wore his pants, his upper body was completely bare. The few water droplets that caught the light sparkled on his bare chest and arms, mesmerizing the princess and causing a strange feeling to shudder through her body and settle at her core. She had admitted to herself when she first met Keith that he was attractive but now that her feelings had been starting to develop for him seeing him in this state was…
He took the towel off of his head and tossed it to shake the last of the droplets from his raven locks, completely unaware of the colorful, sparkly background that had formed behind him in the princess's vision. His violet eyes locked on hers and in that sweet voice of his he endearingly said her name…
"Allura." He smiled slightly and Allura's eyes lit up and her breath hitched slightly.
All the mice who had been resting on the princess's shoulders sighed dreamily and fainted. The two girl mice fanning themselves with their tails before falling. Keith immediately lunged forward and caught them before they all hit the ground and then he set them down and looked up at the princess. He looked confused. Why was she staring at him with that look of desire on her face? Her pupils were dilated.
"Allura? Are you okay?" He asks and Allura stiffens and quickly shakes her head to snap herself out of her trance.
"Yes!" She exclaims quickly and looks embarrassed. "Yes. Uh, everything is fine." She stammers and bites her lip, trying not to stare at Keith's toned arms and chest.
Perhaps that Marmora training did have some benefits after all…She thinks to herself before completely pushing her lustful thoughts aside and focusing on the main task at hand.
"We had the discussion with Lotor…" Allura tells him. "And we came to the conclusion that-"
"He's joining the team." Keith says, eyes trained on the ground and his fist clenched.
"Yes but-" Allura tries to explain.
"You're all idiots." He says and tries to retreat into his room.
"Keith!" Allura scolds him and grasps his hand, halting his retreat. "I know you don't trust him, I don't either but-"
"Then why did you let him join?" Keith asks. His temper starting to flare.
"Because we need him." Allura says firmly. "The Empire is getting stronger and he has demonstrated that he is able to defeat them at this new level of strength. We need him right now. And even if there is a risk he is plotting something…There's also a risk that he's being genuine and we can't afford to pass up an opportunity to get a step ahead of the Empire. Surely you understand?" Allura asks him and Keith looks into her eyes.
"I do." Keith answers and Allura sighs in relief, but her heart races as Keith squeezes her hand and looks at her with a different expression. One filled with care. "But this means that you have to be careful. Don't fall into his-"
"Believe me I know how persuasive Lotor can be." Allura says in a bit of a hurt tone that left Keith wondering how he might have betrayed her in the past and that made him hate Lotor that much more. "I will be on my guard, as will all of us."
"Good." Keith says, thinking that would be the end of the conversation.
"But we need you too Keith." Allura tells him and his heart jumped, his eyes wide. "The Blades have now clearly demonstrated how expendable you are to them. But team Voltron cannot afford to lose you." Her voice started cracking and her eyes started to water. "I-I cannot…" She wept then lunged forward and hugged him.
This time he readily caught her and held her tightly against him as she sobbed into his shoulder. His arms trembled as the realization hit him that he almost never got to hold her again. He winced at the thought and buried his face in her hair.
"You promised me once that you would come back to me." She tells him softly. "Now I need you to make that promise to me again, every time you leave, or else I won't allow you to go back with the Blades."
"Allura." Keith says and pulls her back a bit to look at her. "You can't force me to stay here." She sniffled again. "And I can't promise you that I'll always come back. It's a war. You know as well as I do that such things can't be guaranteed." She was about to break down again but Keith gently rubbed her tears away with his thumbs. "But luckily I won't have to make that promise to you, because I'm not going back to the Blades." He says and Allura's heart soared with happiness. "I'm staying with the team."
"Oh thank goodness!" Allura exclaimed and threw her arms around him and hugged him tight again.
"You're right. The team needs me more than the Blades right now. Especially now that we have that slimy weasel amongst us now…" Allura's eyes widened, knowing he was referring to Lotor. "The team needs someone to be on their guard all the time. And while I trust the other paladins and your judgement, I saw the way he looked at you. He has an ulterior motive for joining this team and if it's what I think it is then I don't like it." He says sternly.
Allura gasped as Keith wrapped an arm around her waist and brought her flush to his chest. She looked into his eyes and her heart fluttered at the intense sincerity and devotion in them.
"So I'm staying with the team to protect them. That's what's most important. But personally, I'm staying here for you." He says and Allura's heart leapt. "If he hurt you and I knew I could have done something I would never forgive myself. So I'm not going to let that happen. The universe needs you Allura, Voltron needs you…I need you." He says softly and gently squeezes her hand. "So no matter what, I'm going to protect you. The one thing I can promise you is that as along as I'm breathing I'll always be by your side for you." He says fiercely and Allura knew right then and there, she was definitely in love with Keith.
"Keith…" She says softly and reaches her free hand out to gently touch his cheek.
"Hey Keith!" Lance shouts and the two paladins gasp and jump apart to look at Lance. Pidge and Lotor rounded the corner with him.
Keith and Lotor locked each other's gazes and their eyes narrowed at each other and Keith subtly moved to stand in front of Allura.
"Wait a minute…" Lance says and looks between the two of them, then he started bristling with anger. "Keith are you trying to seduce Allura!?"
Keith blushed and face palmed while Allura only blushed. Had Lance somehow been able to deduce her true feelings for the hot tempered man in front of her. And how flustered she was when she initially saw him shirtless.
"Why the quiznak would you assume that?" Keith asks him.
"Because you're shirtless and wet!" Lance exclaims. "Those two things combined will turn any girl on!"
Keith was about to reply but then his eyes widened and his face turned red when he suddenly realized why Allura had been looking at him so strangely. Did she find him attractive? The two of them looked at each other, now extremely nervous and embarrassed and Lotor scowled at them both. Lance growled too and grabbed the hem of his shirt and started to lift it up.
"Well two can play at this game!" He declares.
"Put your shirt back on!" Pidge yells at him and Lance pouts and drops the hem, crossing his arms.
"I was taking a shower and Allura came by to tell me that Lotor is a part of the team now." Keith says. "And I told her that I'm joining team Voltron again." Keith says and Lance and Pidge's eyes lit up and they both jumped at him and hugged him.
"KEEF!" They wailed and held onto him tightly. "You're back! Thank goodness! Now tie him down so he can't try to kill himself again!" Pidge instructs to Lance and they start dragging him to his room to find something to restrain him.
"Relax, I'm not going to be doing anything life threatening like that for awhile." Keith tells them and they both release him and let out a sigh of relief. "Right now there are more reasons for me to stay alive than to sacrifice myself." Keith says and looks at Allura, making her heart pound again.
"Okay…" Pidge says, still a bit confused. "But as long as you're not going to go killing yourself anytime soon then I guess we can leave you be. Come on Lance, let's show Lotor to his room."
"Alright." Lance says and follows Pidge down the hall.
"I've got my eye on you two." Lance says and points at his eyes with two fingers then points them both at Keith and Allura.
As Lotor passed Keith he glared at him, and Keith returned it.
"Meanwhile I'll keep my eyes on you." Keith warns and Lotor snarls at him before leaving him and giving the princess an endearing look before she rolls her eyes and walks up to Keith.
Lotor did not miss the gentle squeeze she gave his hand, and the fond look in her eyes as well as his as her face gently came up to cup his cheek.
"I'm glad you're back." She tells him and he closes his eyes and nuzzles his face into her hand a bit.
"Glad to be back." He tells her before they reluctantly part ways and Keith watches her longingly as she leaves down the hall, the mice following her.
Lotor fiercely turned on his heel and walked down the hall.
Keith heard a whistle behind him and turned to find Coran and Shiro.
"Whoa Keith! I had no idea you were hiding a pair of pythons under that jacket you always wear!" Coran exclaims and Keith blushed. His face turned even redder when he noticed Shiro was blushing as well. "You may not have the largest mass out of the three of us but you've certainly built up some more strength since we last saw you! Well looks like Shiro and I aren't the only muscle men on the team anymore! Right Shiro? Shiro?" Coran tried to get Shiro's attention.
"What?" Shiro asks him quickly and they both look up to find Keith hastily retreat into his dorm and the door shut.