Although halfbreeds may be accepted in army as regular soldiers, the position of an officer, leiutenant, warlord or general can only be taken by pure Galra. Since no halfbreed is allowed to take part in Cral Zera ceremony, the Emperor, as the highest warlord, leader and ruler of the Empire, can only be chosen from the Galra with pure blood of every rank.

The Book of Honour, volume 5, "The Halfbreeds"

Chapter Four

Allura

Keith woke up, but kept his eyes closed for a while, not willing to see his dark cell, its black ceiling, its black walls, all this darkness watching him, as if waiting for the moment when he will let his guard down to crash his sanity, to swallow him up. His pain has awaken with him, it has become some kind of background for his existence. When he turned on his back and gained enough courage to look at the ceiling, Keith's eyes widened in shock. His room for the next who knows how many days was now full of light, with greenish and blueish white walls and white floor. And Keith's injured body rested not on the floor, but on the bed, under fresh white sheets. Despite that, they were already strained with blood.

Keith lifted the sheet and looked at his body. For some reason, he was wearing sleepwear of the same type every Paladin had: loose trousers and shirt of a color respectively to the color of Lion the Paladin was piloting with yellow-golden stripes sewed somewhere for decoration. Keith wasn't so found of it as Lance and hasn't worn it for ages. In fact, he had only tried it on once. Its intense color used to match perfectly his pale skin and black hair, but now... When the sleeve fell down from his raised left arm, Keith saw band-aids tightly covering his wounds. And the skin was purple. On the background of the red fabric of sleeve it looked blindingly bright. The band-aid on his arm was already soaked with blood, and his clothes had a darker red spots on them, which probably came from another band-aids. Keith touched his ears. He didn't need a mirror to state that he was still a Galra on the outside. He looked at his arm again and chuckled lightly. It was ironic that the only thing that left from his old self was the color of his blood. That cherry red liquid in his veins and sunset red in his arteria was the grim reminder of who he was and who he will never be able to be again.

Keith slowly sat on the bed, but it took him too much effort, so he rested a bit before stepping on the cold floor.

When his feet had barely touched the ground, the wall in front of him went glassy and a dark, tall and straight figure stepped in the circle of light coming from the cell. It was Princess Allura.

- You've heard everything, haven't you?

- Yes... - Keith said, - I have.

The Day Before

Keith walked down the long corridor that lead to the Princess's apartaments. King Alfor must have loved his daughter a lot, judging by the comfort he'd surrounded her with. If Allura wanted, she could never leave her rooms and live there happily ever after. The fact that she actually didn't do that filled Keith with hope that he and the other Paladins were not so totally pathetic and pathetic beings.

But recently there was one thing he was really worried about. While everybody (including himself) seemed to had gone through the agressive-denial phase of accepting him as a part Galra, Allura still acted distant and shot him savage looks when she thought he wouldn't notice. But he did.

Keith was sure that if they'll have a talk and he'll explain himself, she wouldn't treat him like that any longer. He couldn't believe that such a geunine and fiercely brave creature can be intolerant for someone who had never done her wrong.

But anyway he was still nervous, because having serious long talks (talks at all) with other people was more than he could bear.

He finally reached the door and found it open. When Keith entered the hall, Allura's voice came from distance. His first intention was to run away. He didn't want to meet here Lance, or Shiro, or anybody else. Keith planned a confidential conversation with Princess, not a psychological group meeting. But the moment after he realised she was talking to herself. The Red Paladin wanted to go away immediately, but what he heard had completely paralysed him, glued his legs to the floor so he couldn't move even though he strongly wished to.

Somewhere in the luxurious apartaments, Allura shouted:

- And this bastard of one of Zarkon's generals or even regular soldiers, which is more possible, is flying my father's Lion! The Galra can never be trusted! Zarkon was the one who lied to his team. Most of the original Paladins died of his hands. My father died of his hand, and he was calling him a friend! Zarkon has proved that a Galra can never be a paladin of Voltron! This whole race is corrupted, evil and treatorous,- she took a pause, but then continued: - I-i need to get rid of Keith. In some way... Send him somewhere... Where this monster won't hurt anyone. But until that, I need to find another paladin for the Red Lion. I was such a fool to give it to him! I gave a part of the most powerful weapon in the Universe right into the hands of its enemy! The Red Lion must be under some kind of influence. I need to step in and archieve my father's heritage! To whom King Alfor's Lion should respond, if not to his only daughter?

Keith had enough listening to this. He finally managed to move out of the hall and make it to the training room, where he cut and crashed robots in rage he had never felt before.

Both Allura and Keith remained silent, standing in front of each other, until Keith felt tired and sat on the floor, resting his back on the side of his bed.

- Are you feeling victorious now? - he asked with a sigh.

She raised her eyebrows:

- Why?

- Your expectations turned out to be true. I betrayed you and hurt everyone. Which I have never thought of doing.

- But you did. But not to everyone. You didn't do any harm to Coran. He is your greatest defender now.

- Defender of the defender of the Universe, huh? Can I even call myself this way now?

- I don't even know whether I can call myself King Alfor's daughter now.

- At least you know who you are.

- Not anymore.

Now it was Keith's turn to raise his eyebrows. Allura stared at the floor.

- My father led Altea to the times of prosperity and peace. He learned to accept every race, every creature, helped different civilizations to gain peace. His diplomacy was a stuff of legends. His goal was to keep the balance in the Universe. The negotiations between the original Paladins that led them to becoming close friends, comrades were his archievement. And what have I done?

- You planned to exile me. How would you have explained it to the rest of the team, I wonder?

Allura didn't answer, and Keith wondered if anybody would argue or doubt her decision in case she'd fulfilled her plan.

- Now that I have proved myself being a monster, what will you do with me?

- I and the others will try to cure you. All of us decided that we will try.

- Cure me of my genes? Thank you very much! - Keith said mockingly.

- Not of your Galra heritage. Of The Flame of Purification.

That Day

Princess of Altea ran through the labyrinth of corridors of the Castle of Lions, barely recognizing the direction she was going in. She almost didn't care. Allura just wanted to be as far from the creature Keith has become as possible. At the corner of her mind she was hoping to safely return to the others and help them to tame this beast. But her will to live right now was stronger than altruism. Every cell of her being screamed for her to run.

Although she ran faster than nowhen, the distance between her and Keith has been shortening with every second. Princess turned right, hoping there will be a room she could trick her chaser into running in, or at least where she could lock herself and stay safe until its over.

But when Allura looked up, she saw a dead end.

Princess ran to the wall in the end of the corridor, trying to get the further from Keith she still could and pressed her back against it, preparing to fight. Which was practically useless. She had no weapons, no thick armor, no means to escape and no time to think.

Keith appeared from behind a corner and made a lightning-fast movement at her direction with his hand. Allura watched in awe as something flew into her, and a moment later a loud scream escaped her lips. Terrible pain she had never felt before bumped into her, sending hot flesh-scorching shivers from her right shoulder. When she turned her head, Allura saw Keith's Marmoran knife sticking out of it.

It was when Princess realised it was all over. Keith with wildly glowing eyes was approaching her, coming closer and closer, her ribs ached from running, it felt like her shoulder was on fire, she couldn't stand firmly on the ground, but she couldn't just collapse on the floor either, because the knife cut through her shoulder and stuck in the wall.

Just when Keith almost reached her, when he already raised his right clawed arm to grab his knife, a blast of blue laser gun touched his hand beneath the elbow. Keith screamed in pain, but while he'd been turning around to face the encounter more shots came to his palms, hands, hips, thighs and knees. Behind Keith's shoulder Allura saw Lance shooting from his bayard. He managed to fire so many shots in such a short time without a single miss. She sighed in relief.

Keith looked at Lance and roared at him showing his sharp fangs. Then he turned to Princess again, tore his knife from Allura's shoulder, jumped... and dissapeared in vents. Allura immediately fell on the floor, for there were nothing to hold her anymore. Lance looked at the hole in the ceiling where Keith had just dissappeared. Then he gave Allura a sad look and said:

- Allura, I... I-i'm sorry...

- It's okay, - Princess responded weakly with a small painfull smile. - You go get him. Shoot him down, sharpshooter.

And before Lance could answer anything, her vision faded and Princess fell unconscious.

- And how are you going to accomplish that? - Keith asked, unsuccesfully trying to hide a spark of hope in his voice.

Allura cleared her throat.

- We don't know for sure. Coran is going to search through the Book of Honour to find some answers, more information. The rest of us... We made a short plan and divided our responsibilities. Each of us will visit you on a certain day with your... OUR specific problem to work on.

- Will the days when you leave me alone be there?

- If you wish.

- I definitely would.

The awkward silence lasted for a few seconds, before Keith asked half mockingly, half desperate:

- And which of my mental wounds are you supposed to heal on your watch?

Allura waited a bit, then lowered her head and mumbled to the floor:

- Physical contact.

That Day

Keith raised his head and straightened. His ears moved slightly as he listened carefully to Allura singing quietly some weird Altean song somewhere in the Castle. He could feel her scent from here. The Princess of Altea smelled like roses, silk and blood that came from the wounds from fingernails on her palms, which she carefully covered with fingerless gloves of her suit. Now that Keith knew about his Galra heritage, it wasn't surprising he was the only one to hear Princess scream at night. It seemed that he also was the only one in team telling the truth and not wearing a mask. Or at least he thought so.

Keith rushed to the source of smell. His head was foggy and full of hatred. The words Allura said yesterday went through his head over and over sending another waves of pain washing over him like ocean's waters, like flames.

On and on he ran, until Princess appeared in the end of the corridor he turned to. Keith stopped and watched as Allura put on a friendly mask with genuine smile and made few steps towards him, but then, when she saw an expression of disgust and hatred on his face, she took a step back and her mask slipped away, showing her true emotions.

Keith felt like his consciousness was split in a half. A part of him watched from the distance as the other part, constantly growing and becoming stronger, raged on. He didn't want to hurt his friends, but the other part overcame, and he did so. He has totally lost control.

- Keith? What-what happened?

- It's my honour to deprive the Universe of such a fake being, Princess.

Her eyes widened, and after a brief moment of shock, she turned over and fled. Keith was right on her heels.

- W-what? - Keith's mouth fell open.

Physical contact was his biggest weakspot. All these years spent alone left a mark, a special print on him. He had no friends, no relatives, nobody except for his brother not by blood, but by mind, Shiro. But they knew each other so well they need no touch, no words to understand each other's mood, emotions, thoughts. It was enough for Keith to look into Shiro's eyes to know how bad things were, was he mad at him or not or is he proud of Keith's new archievement. And vice versa, when Keith wanted to keep something in secret, his stare was glued to the floor, so Shiro wouldn't guess what is happening inside of him.

The others, especially Hunk, Pidge and Lance, hugged a lot, have been giving each other a high five on every occasion, patted each other on the shoulder, were holding hands at the particularly hard times in sign of unity. It had always surprised Keith how they knew what to do in a certain situation. And Shiro was the same! He knew when to raffle Pidge's hair to cheer her up, he knew when to lay a hand on Lance's shoulder to calm him down, he knew when to hug Hunk to end his anxiety attack before it started. Keith was never able to tell when the right moment was, he was too afraid to be rejected. He may occasionally let Shiro hug him when the things were totally terrible and he needed some comfort, and nobody could get away from his space dad patting on the shoulder, but not more than that. And now guess who was going to comfort him? Princess Allura, who said he was a disgusting monster needed to be tamed and exiled somewhere far, far away! His mind was racing.

Princess remained silent.

- Aren't you think I'm a disgusting monster?

- Yes.

Keith shaked his head. It didn't make sense. But he was so devastated he couldn't care less. "They can do what they want to", he thought, "I'm their prisoner now". And a little part of him, which he was unaware of, added:"But I wish they'd just kill me".

- Can I come in? - Allura asked.

- Well, I am the prisoner here, not you. You can go wherever you want to.

A painfull look appeared on her face as she stepped back in the shadows only to turn up in the doorway on the wall behind Keith. He scrambled up to his feet, mourning between clenched teeth. He could barely stand straight, so he almost immediately sat on the bed.

Allura stood awkwardly leaning against the wall. Keith watched her carefully for a few seconds before asking:

- What exactly are you going to do?

- I'm going to brush your hair.

These words seemed to give Allura confidence, for she made few steps towards Keith. She felt how he stiffened when she sat on the opposite side of the bed behind him. Princess pulled out a light pink comb and took a strand of Keith's hair with a shaking hand, sending cold shivers down his back. To fill this awkward silence, Allura asked Keith while combing his messy hair:

- Why did you never spoke to us, or at least to Shiro about the way you felt? We could have prevented this, sorted things out.

- And why did you lie every time Shiro asked you if you were okay?

Allura waited a moment before responding:

- I-i... It was just me and my problems. I never wanted to burden you with all this stuff. Everybody has nightmares sometimes.

- You've answered your question.

It took Princess much effort to carefully brush this black flow, so she wondered:

- Why do you never cut your hair? It must be a great distraction in a battle. Coran washed you and took care of your wounds, but it was too much of a call for him to comb your hair.

Keith shrugged.

- It just reminds me of my childhood, when my dad had to pay me a candy to have my permission to cut my hair at least a bit, so I could see properly. I've been always upset after cutting it off, it felt like parts of me have been taken away.

Allura didn't say anything, but Keith continued, as if the words he said were the flow that had washed away the dam somewhere in his mind.

- By the way, my dad was a human, - he said in a stiff tone, but resumed in a more soft voice: - He never told me anything specific about mom. I guess she was Galran or part Galran. He has always said that he loved her a lot, but she went away. I've always thought she had died, but now I'm not sure. Maybe she left me.

Allura was silent for a moment, but then she said in a low voice:

- My father has been spending a lot of time with me, he was caring and loving, as well as my mother, but sometimes... There where times I haven't seen him for months! He was too busy building Voltron, fighting the enemies alongside with the other paladins, studying ancient Altean alchemy... I was proud of him, but I wanted father not to be the king so we could spend more time together. When he started to take me with him, started to teach me how to fly the Castle... It helped a lot.

- Did you knew Zarkon?

- Yes, of course. The original Black Paladin... He played with me when I was small, and father has brought me on a mission with the other paladins few times. He had always been awkward around other people. Skilled and disciplined warrior, he had no idea how to interact with his friends, people he cared about. I remember how I pursued him to play royal tea party with me. He had been blushing all the time.

Princess chuckled lightly, but then her forehead wrinkled, her eyebrows furrowed and she sighed desperately.

- When all this slaughther has begun, I was sure that Zarkon had been pretending all this time. That he had always been evil and cruel. Since then I've always thought about a Galra as an enemy. But now I don't even know.

The word "slaughter" that slipped from Allura's lips reminded Keith of the time she had spoken it before. When he woke up after spilling his friends' blood and his own. Grim reminder.

He fought the numbness and asked after a moment:

- How's your arm?

- Better. Coran placed me in a curing pod for some time. But the wound still bleeds sometimes.

- Do you hate me?

- I don't know. It's my fault you injured me, but I expected you to do so, and you did...

Another long pause has been broken by Keith:

- Allura, tell me...

- Huh?

- Why you?

She let out a sorrowful sigh.

- Coran insisted on it, but seriously, who would have done it instead of me? And... Coran told me... That you may have had feelings for me.

Keith gasped, but managed to conquer his shaking voice:

- I had. But not the ones you think.

The words "maybe I still have" echoed through his mind.

Allura's eyed widened.

- I see, - she whispered.

Princess carefully stood up and headed for the door.

Her job has been done, so now she could end the torture it definitely was for both of them.

Keith ran a hand through his hair. It was silky and wasn't all in knots anymore.

- Thank you, Allura.

She looked at him and nodded.

The door in front of her appeared and opened with a loud whoosh, but Keith managed to tell her before she dissappeared:

- You'd better learn to accept the other Paladins, Princess. Or otherwise you'll end up alone surrounded by your heritage - metal beasts that don't even respond to you.