Author's Notes
Hi! Thanks for reading! I don't own Voltron, or anything affiliated with it, I'm just a writer!
(For some reason, formatting won't allow me to put spaces in between paragraphs, so you're stuck reading one large blurb of text - apologies!)
Hope you enjoy!
The Castle doors opened and the dusk sun shone bright in their eyes. Crowds of the now-free aliens cheered for them. They threw foreign flowers and leaves and what looked like candy. Hunk bent down and gingerly popped one in his mouth. He brightened up.
"They taste like cinnamon donuts!" He said excitedly and pocketed a few as he ate another one. Team Voltron made their way down to the crowds and began to mingle. Keith stuck by Shiro and Lance, Pidge talked tech with the others, and Hunk ended up bagging the candies.
"I am B'dj're, Chief of the Pl'xxra." A humanoid looking alien approached them. He wore a warriors garb with different shells and stones. Various teeth were strewn across his chest like it was a trophy. "I thank you Paladins for freeing my planet and my people from the Galra."
"You are very welcome," Allura bowed respectfully, a smile forming on her face. "If you would, I would like to discuss terms on alliances. We have the Olkari, the Blade of Marmora, and other various planets that are in alliance with Voltron against Zarkon."
"Of course," B'dj're replied, motioning for Allura to follow him, "we can discuss this inside." While they walked away, Lance was flirting with some feminine looking Pl'xxra.
"Hey, are you a supernova?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "Because you just blow me away." Lance gave his signature grin and finger guns. The female gave a 'chirraf' and walked away, clearly unamused and uninterested. Lance groaned and his shoulders sagged.
"Don't pout too much, they'll probably take it as a sign." Shiro said with a small grin. "Better luck next time buddy."
"Can we go?" Keith muttered, his ears bent awkwardly inside his helmet. "I feel like they're staring."
"Well they probably are." Shiro said, looking around at the various Pl'xxra that were around them, "We did just liberate their planet of the last of Zarkon's forces here." Keith just huffed and shrunk further into his older brother's shadow. Lance saw another female Pl'xxra on the other side of the courtyard and tried again.
"Hey girl, are you a rocket ship? Because I'd totally blast off into space with you." The female giggled and blushed a deep blue. Lance, encouraged by this response, decided to continue. "The name's Lance."
"I am H'f'dre." She said warmly. Suddenly a very large Pl'xxra approached the two.
"H'f'dre!" The male Pl'xxra quite literally growled, "who is this?"
"Kx'sdre, this is the Lance!" She replied happily. "He is talking with me!"
"You were talking with my consort?" He snarled, reaching for his knife. Lance immediately backed up a few paces.
"Woah, sorry dude! Didn't know she was taken!" He apologized, hoping to get out of this mess quickly. Kx'sdre, however, wasn't having it, and advanced. Keith and Shiro had noticed at this point and the Red Paladin was quick to act. He stepped between the two, and stood in a protective stance in front of Lance.
"You heard him, it was an accident." Keith said lowly. Shiro crossed his arms, frowning. He didn't want Keith to do something he'd regret, but he also didn't want there to be any fighting. Kx'sdre looked down at Keith and sniffed the air around him. The young Galra tensed up, his tail shifting uncomfortably under the cloth that he bound it with.
"You're not one of them... you're scent is..." he sniffed the air again, "different." Keith inwardly cursed, but kept a cool composure.
"I'm not asking again," Keith growled, his ears in his helmet flat against his head, "leave him alone." Kx'sdres lips curled back in a snarl but he strayed where he was as the three Paladins made their way to Hunk and Pidge. Keith saw movement out of the corner of his eye and whirled around. He saw Kx'sdre advancing on them with a rock, and he instinctively got in front of Lance and Shiro as a shield. The Pl'xxra gave a warriors cry and went to throw the rock when Keith drew his bayard and sliced the rock in half.
"Kx'sdre stop!" H'f'dre shouted, but she was ignored. The angry Pl'xxra gave another warriors cry and charged. Keith was quick, but an angry Pl'xxra was ruthless. Kx'sdre gave a mean backhand and Keith managed to avoid the worst of the brutal hit, but miscalculated his duck. It hit the lower part of his jaw and sent him to the ground.
"Keith!" Shiro shouted, and he ran to the Red Paladin's side. Keith groaned, and his ears flattened when he realized that his helmet had fallen off. A crowd of Pl'xxra gathered and were shocked to see that one of the Paladins of Voltron was actually a Galra.
"You're a Galra!" Kx'sdre snarled. Keith leaned closer to Shiro, who was currently kneeling next to him. Shiro stood and with a swift stride, stood right in front of Kx'sdre
"Before anything else happens that you'll regret, I suggest you back off." He said lowly, his prosthetic arm crackling to life with the purple energy.
"You have an infection aboard your ship, on your team of warriors. Better to cut if off then let it spread." The Pl'xxra growled. Keith wasn't paying attention to the conversation, but was listening to the whispers of the aliens.
"Galra scum."
"He's a r'jdurl." R'jdurl. He knew what that meant. It was an extremely derogatory term for any alien, no matter the race. His vision went blurry and his tail finally lashed out, free from the confines of his bindings.
R'jdurl…
Freak...
Scum
Infection...
I have to get out. He thought, his breath hitching in his throat as panic seized his mind. He vaguely registered that Shiro was now in front of him, gently shaking Keith.
"-reathe Keith! You have to snap out if it!" Shiro was shouting. Keith, in a sudden rush of adrenaline, got up and darted past Shiro and out of the courtyard. He blindly ran in the woods, his hypersensitive ears picking up footsteps behind him. He was too panicky to register that it wasn't any of the Pl'xxra in pursuit, but his older brother. The Black Paladin followed Keith, and despite that his lungs started to burn, he kept up. Keith literally scaled a tree and breathed heavily, his senses on overdrive.
"Keith, it's me. Come down'" Shiro shouted, but there was no response. After a moment, he finally heard Keith move.
"H-had to get out of there." Keith said between breaths. "They knew." Shiro could hear the panicked inhaling, or at least the younger Paladin's attempts to inhale.
"So what if they knew?" Shiro tried to reason, "You just saved them, they should be thankful."
"Yeah, a whole race once captured by Galra get saved by a r'jdurl." He winced slightly at the word. "They were gonna tear me apart, Shiro."
"What's a r'jdurl?" Shiro asked, feeling slightly confused.
"It's an alien word that every race knows. It's a really, really bad expletive for 'half-breed.'" Keith explained, still shaking slightly. "I-We shouldn't've even come here.. I shouldn't-I can't…" He stuttered, very much unlike himself. Shiro knew what was happening. Keith was having a really, really bad panic attack. He could hear his stuttered breathing, and his inability to form legitimate sentences. Shiro decided that enough was enough, and started scaling the tree. He managed to throw one leg over to a branch next to Keith's and quiznak these branches were huge. He sat down in front of Keith, who was currently tucked up in a ball, his knees to his chest and his head down.
Keith, you need to calm down." He crawled closer. "Akira Kogane, listen to me." This snapped the younger paladin out of his panic attack enough to look at Shiro with tear-filled eyes, tail tucked between himself and a knot in his stomach. The use of his full name made him listen to the Black Paladin.
"I'm sorry…" He mumbled, wiping his eyes with his claw. "I'm so-" Keith stopped when he was engulfed in Shiro. Shiro held him tightly, his chin resting against the top of Keith's head.
"Don't be sorry.." Shiro murmured. He pulled away and looked at the younger Paladin in the eyes, despite how much Keith wanted to avoid eye contact. "Anata wa daijōbudesu." He whispered.
"I don't want to go back to the celebration." Keith muttered, ears flat.
"That's okay, we don't have to. How about we go back to the Castle and you can get some rest?" Shiro offered, already beginning to descend down the giant tree. Keith followed him and the two hit the ground with a roll to counter gravity. The two started to head back to the castle feeling a little lighter about the situation.
