Before Voltron, before kerberos, Keith thought he had found his soulmate. He thought he had found someone who would never leave his side, who would never cast him aside as too troublesome. He was happy, truly happy. But right now, it was pure torture.
Lance is cuddling up to Shiro in the main room. Without saying anything, Keith left to room to go train. He needed to get his mind off them. He needs to escape from the feelings threatening to corrupt his head.
Keith thought he had found the one. He thought he could be happy with someone but he should have known better. No one is destined for him. No one will love him forever. They all forget and move on, even if they don't mean to. He promised himself not to ruin their happiness.
On his way out of the room, Keith didn't notice two pairs of longing eyes watching him go.
Keith won't get in their way. They seem a million more times happier now. A million times happier than they ever were with Keith.
Keith's heart ached as he walked away from the castle's control room in his Marmora outfit. He had hoped someone would stop him, tell him not to go. Tell him that he is needed. Keith hoped that his lost soulmate would remember what they had together. He had hoped but no one came. No one even came to see him off. They had all already said their goodbyes after all.
He was slightly happy. Lance no longer has to worry about his placement on the team. Keith doesn't have to worry about other races questioning Voltron for having such a bad leader. He can no longer the pain in his chest. It just felt hollow now. This is for the best, for everyone. He no longer had to hide the purple starting to spread across his skin. He is where he belongs.
The entire Voltron team missed Keith but they understood that being with the Blade is very important to Keith. Everyone is happy each time Keith joins the discussion between them and Kolivan. Keith used to show up for every meeting but he's been getting more and more missions. Everyone is worried about Keith, two more than the others.
Keith stared at his hands. His tail swaying behind him on the bed. He no longer looked human. He was still smaller than all the other Blade members but he is slightly taller than before. His hair is still the exact same. His Galran ears are smaller than average. If you looked close enough, you could still see his purple eyes in his now fully yellow eyes. With his new galran look, he gave himself a new name.
Lance and Shiro are excited to finally have a mission together with the Blade. Kolivan will be there so there is a high chance of Keith being there as well. The castle lands on the planet and the team does a formal greeting with Kolivan before splitting off. Hand in hand, Lance and Shiro look for Keith. Most of the Blade is talking in groups and they didn't want to interrupt anyone. Standing alone is a masked Blade member who is the exact same height as Lance.
"Hello," Shiro says as he walk up to them," Do you by any chance know where Keith is?" The Blade member shook their head and walked away. Their tail almost dragging on the ground behind them. Shiro looks to Lance and sees the look of disappointment. "I'm sure he is here. Let's go ask Kolivan."
It's not hard to find the Blade leader, especially since he just so happen to be looking at them. "Hey Kolivan, is Keith here?" Lance asked.
"You were just talking to him," he answers, confusing the two humans.
"What do you mean? Keith doesn't have a tail," Shiro says.
"Keith has finished going through his transformation. It seems that being in space strengthens his galra side." A different Blade member called for Kolivan. "Excuse me."
Lance looks to Shiro with wide eyes. "Keith is full galra now?"
"He looks more galra," Shiro corrects his boyfriend," His appearance doesn't change how much of a galra he is."
"Why would he tell us no?" Lance asked, worried that Keith might hate them for some reason.
"I'm not sure. We should go talk to him." Lance nods and follows Shiro as they look for Keith again. It takes a while but they find Keith standing a little bit away from the rest of the Blade.
"Keith!" Lance yells. He lets go of Shiro's hand and runs to grab Keith's arm to keep him from walking away again. Keith's tail sways in annoyance and shakes his head.
"Kolivan told us that it's you," Shiro says, lightly glaring at Keith," Why did you lie to us?"
"My name is Kage." Keith deactivates his mask and Lance gasps.
"You still have a mullet!" Keith glares at Lance who just sheepishly smiles.
"Why are you changing your name?" Shiro asks, worry evident on his face.
"I don't look the same anymore."
"That doesn't mean you need a different name. You're still Keith no matter how you look," Shiro argues.
"I was hoping you guys wouldn't recognize me," Keith says honestly and looks down at the ground.
"Why?" Lance asks softly. Maybe Keith really did hate them now.
"You guys didn't mind when I found out that I was part galra, but now I actually look the part. I don't need you guys to start thinking I'm a new Keith again."
"You were always the same," Shiro says.
"Not according to Hunk and Allura. Can we stop talking about this now? We're here to talk about the mission, not about our personal lives."
"We are not going to drop this! Did you think we would dislike you?!" Lance asked. Shiro has to hold his hand again to calm the red paladin down.
"Maybe," Keith shrugs, still not having looked up. "Not like I really matter anyways," he mumbles to himself.
"Of course you matter! We've already been-" Shiro cuts himself off with a gasp. He finally remembers something from before kerberos. "Keith… Why didn't you tell me?"
"Tell you what?" Lance asked. Keith just turns away from the two, making Lance even more confused.
"Keith! Why didn't you say something earlier?!"
"Because you're happy," Keith answers softly.
"I was happy with you too!"
"Wait…" It finally clicked for Lance. "You guys… Used to be together?"
"It doesn't matter anymore," Keith says,"Shiro is happy with you."
"Then what about you?" Shiro asks, placing a hand on Keith's shoulder, which is shruged off.
"Lance is better for you. You smile a lot more with him," Keith mumbles.
"Sh-should I leave?" Lance whispers to Shiro, feeling like this conversation won't turn out well. At least for him. Shiro was dating Keith before the kerberos mission and they never broke up. Lance feels horrible. He stole Shiro from Keith.
Shiro holds onto Lance's hand. "No. We are talking this out, the three of us." Lance nods but still feels uneasy.
"There isn't anything to talk about!"
"Yes there is! We can resolve this but you have to talk to us!"
Keith finally turns around to face Shiro and yells,"It's already been resolved! You're dating Lance! You don't need me!"
"Yes I do! I need both of you!"
"How can you need both of us?! Lance is practically everything you want!" Keith yells, not understanding. Lance, on the other hand, does. He has known people in polyamorous relationships and honestly, he doesn't mind. Shiro knows about his secret crush on Keith. Lance told Shiro about it a bit after getting together.
"It will be the three of us. We both love you Keith," Shiro says softly. Keith stares at them for a bit before shaking his head and glaring.
"We're in the middle of war and I'm with the Blade. I can't have attachment." It hurts Keith to say that but he it's true. It'll only hurt more to be in any sort of relationship.
"Then come back with us," Lance suggests," You don't have to pilot a lion. Or we can share Red!"
"No." Keith activates his mask. "Voltron is better without me."
Keith starts to leave but Lance grabs his wrist again. "Keith," Lance says softly," You keep pushing us away because you're scared of us leaving but we aren't going to leave. If it wasn't for you, none of us would be out here. Zarkon would have attacked Earth and we wouldn't be able to save the universe!"
"I told you that I would never leave you… So please… Let me- Let us make it up to you."
Keith had to deactivate his mask again as his eyes start to water. Galras don't cry but he is still part human god damn it. Lance and Shiro hug Keith, squishing him between the two of them. "We're different," Lance whispers,"We won't ever let you go again."