Keith stopped outside the door to the medical bay, through the small window he could see the crowd around Kolivan's bed... all of them had come here. A guilty thought crept up that if they were all here no one was taking care of Lotor... was that what they assumed he was gonna do? He pushed the guilt away, Lotor left him in the entryway, not the other way around... besides Lotor was probably used to being alone. The guilty feeling came back. Damn it. He forced it back again, he was here because he was concerned about Kolivan... and it was about time someone started telling him the truth.
He opened the door, and everyone went silent, he stopped again, suddenly wondering if he was allowed to be here.
"Come on," Allura moved first, grabbing Coran's hand and tugging him towards the door. "We need to contact the Blades and inform them what happened." she moved to slip past Keith, whispering under her breath. "Best to have Lotor stay in his room for a while... I'll see to him." She squeezed his shoulder and left. Coran giving him a look as if he wanted to say something too, but changed his mind, patting the same shoulder as he too left.
The silence left after they departed hurt. Shiro had his arms crossed, standing against the far wall, Pidge was doing something on a computer close to Kolivan's bedside, pretending to be too engaged to notice his arrival, though her stiff spine told him that was a lie. Lance wouldn't even look at him, holding onto Kolivan's hand. The Patient himself appeared to be asleep... Hunk was the only one who made eye contact with Keith.
"So..." Keith tried, but he was suddenly cut off by the Yellow Paladin.
"Dude, if you call kisses like that 'Nothing' you are more of a Man-Moll than I thought. When the hell were you going to clue me into the fact I was giving you slut-advice for boinking Lotor!" Keith flinched.
"It wasn't... Hunk... it isn't like that... Lotor isn't even serious!" Kolivan coughed, and Keith's eyes shot over to him worriedly.
"Not serious? Keith, I knew you were slow but you aren't normally this stupid! How is THIS not Serious!?" Hunk's flung arms emphasized the scene, Kolivan struggling to sit up with Lance's help as his leg wound started bleeding though the bandages. Pidge swore, dropping the computer to grab Kolivan's leg.
"You've gone and ripped it open again! Sit still! Boys! If you can't play nice you need to leave. This is still a medical bay!" She glared at each of them in turn then started opening Kolivan's bandages to repair the damage. Properly chastised Hunk sat down again, Keith stayed were he was, looking on helplessly, knowing he wasn't welcome.
"He's our friend." Lance finally spoke up, "He might be your boss, but he was my friend first. And you just sat there as your boyfriend, the enemy, ripped him open... and then you kissed him." Lance turned to him, Keith hadn't seen that much loathing in Lance's eyes since they joined Voltron. "How could you?"
Keith shuffled his feet, crossing his arms over his chest. "Lance... Hunk, everyone, I promise... It's not what it looks like, Lotor is just playing with me... I don't know what he's thinking, he's in love with Allura, I heard him say so..."
Lance laughed, a cold harsh sound. "Right, I totally believe that. Sure, Lotor is playing with you... why are you letting him?"
"He's not." Kolivan coughed out. "He's not Playing. He does not love the princess." Pidge made shhhushing noises, but Kolivan continued. "And Keith was right, he's not letting Lotor do anything."
Lance scowled. "I don't care. If Keith gave one quiznacking damn about you or any of us, he would have shanked Prince-Pucker-up while they were tongue-tied. Give that betraying bastard a taste of his own medicine."
"Lance" Shiro spoke up, looking at the blue paladin until he blushed and looked down. As if ordered to, Lance stood up.
"Come on, Hunk... Kolivan is going to need something to eat while he heals. Might as make sure the people feeding him actually care if he lives or not."
"Lance." Shiro growled a warning but the blue and yellow paladins were already leaving. When the door shut Shiro looked to Kolivan. "They are mated, aren't they?"
Kolivan sighed, the first breath he took without trouble. "No... not yet... but it's only a matter of time."
"Well, glad you both know what's going on. Mind filling me in?" Keith snapped, knowing that Kolivan didn't deserve this anger, but it was his life they were talking about.
Shiro glared at him, then relented, scrubbing his human hand over his face. "I don't know much... I just remember seeing mated pairs while I was a prisoner... all I really know is it's intense, it changes you... and if that's really what has been happening between you two... I'm sorry Keith, but there's not much you can do to fight it." Pidge frowned, looking up at Shiro.
Kolivan curled his hand into a fistful of sheets. "I thought you were too human to make a mate-bond... you don't even obey the commands... I thought whatever you do to avoid submitting would keep you safe. Had I known your destined mate was Lotor," he grimaced. "I was a fool." He looked up into Keith's eyes, it was hard being stared at by someone with no iris or pupil. "I'm sorry, Keith."
Keith frowned, still not sure what they were saying, "Lo- um... He mentioned that I do something weird... he said it was like I jumped out of the 'hierarchy' or something? I don't know what hierarchy he was talking about, but he said it's like I became a void. It's triggered when I focus... you know... 'Patience Leads Focus'... like Shiro taught me." He felt stupid talking about it out loud, how could he do something and not know he was doing it.
Kolivan was nodding. "Yes, that is a very apt description. I always believed that was because you were too human to feel the call of the Hierarchy, so I never taught you about it... it's much like your native wolves, in each pack of wolves there are the strong and the weak, the weak listen to the strong, or they don't survive... it's the same concept, but it's all of us. If you receive an order from a superior, you can't fight it, it's absolute... I believe you felt it before." Keith remembered the way his legs seemed stuck to the floor while he watched the two Galra fight.
"Yes, that." Kolivan said, seeing the scowl on Keith's face. "You've been avoiding those orders since day one while you were with the Blades, maybe it was some sort of self preservation instinct, but orders slip right off of you. Since the Hierarchy is a similar psychic phenomena to a Khalief... well, you can see why I made my assumptions."
Keith still wasn't sure how it all added up. "You said he wasn't in love with Allura, but I heard him propose, he said he found his mate when he came to meet her." As he said the words, it clicked. "Oh... Oh quiznack. Me? He meant me!?"
Kolivan laughed, "Yes, I think that is obvious." He laid back down. "I'm afraid this situation is indeed quite serious, Keith'patitt, while you may think this is a game, it is not. Or rather, even if it is, the Prince is playing for keeps. He has already started the bonding process, the warm ups if you will. If I asked you, you probably felt his wounds as soon as you were close enough for the link to stretch, and I would guess that all that pain has disappeared since Lotor kissed you." Keith looked startled, his hand flying up to his head. "It's a benefit of Mate bonds, it may temper in time, but for now the energy of the Khalief is fresh enough you could heal almost anything with touch alone." he winced. "I could use something like that now."
"This voiding thing, can all human hybrid's do it?" Pidge asked, curious.
Kolivan frowned, "I have met no other human Galra hybrids. Earth was not a planet we traveled to often. But no other hybrids that I have met have been immune to the Hierarchy."
"Huh. I always thought Keith might be a little bit Aspie, but it's not like we have a psychoanalyst here in space who can properly diagnose that. But it seems similar, Aspie's, people with asperger syndrome, often can do something called 'Hyper-focusing' during which they literally block everything out that is not relevant to what they are currently experiencing. For an extreme example, like if they were walking in the rain, and became so focused on the feel of rain hitting their skin, they didn't notice the cars crashing around them as they stand in the center of the intersection because the rain became more important than crossing the crosswalk. When Keith does his meditation thing... could it be he's pulling himself into a hyperfocus? That he's blocking out anything that gets in his way, including the half of him that's Galra?"
Keith fidgeted. "Is it a bad thing? It works doesn't it." He hated feeling anymore different than his friends, now he apparently had some sort of syndrome? On top of being psychically linked to their maybe-former enemy? Today was great.
"No... it's not bad, Aspie's tend to exhibit some social awkwardness, and eccentric tendencies, but at the things they decide are worth their attention, they are astoundingly adept. Your brain may have simply decided that the Hierarchy the rest of your kind is forced to submit to is not worth your time, and so it found a way around it. It's like your own personal superpower."
"...Yay?"
Kolivan laughed, "That actually seems like something Keith would do... He was never really good at accepting other's authority, was he?" Now Shiro was laughing.
"Not our Keith." His smile faltered as he remembered Keith following Lotor's orders, sure the first thing he did when he broke out of them was punch Lotor in the face... but he had obeyed. Shiro rubbed his metal arm, it had obeyed too. He hated being blindsided once again by the alterations that witch had forced on him.
"Well, glad that's explained." He wanted that part of the conversation over, it felt uncomfortable, and eerie, like he expected an evisceration would feel like. "Kolivan... are we … are we cool?" Keith took the steps needed to take Hunk's empty chair, at the foot of the bed.
"Yes, Pattit. I was not angry at you, just afraid for you. I have failed to remove your mate for you, and I fear anyone else who tries will suffer the same fate. But, I didn't ask, are you happy with him?"
"I... part of me could be. I feel it every time he's in the room, it's a strong part of me... but I don't know."
"Hmmm. Well for now we will all just have to trust your judgment. He can't be so bad if he is willing to let me live to save you the pain... I would have thought he was too proud for that." Kolivan snuggled down into his pillows as Pidge finished with his leg and tossed a blanket back over him. "You have to understand that all of this is the beginning, This might feel overwhelming, but it's subtle compared to the true thing. It normally takes mo-" a yawn broke through his words,"nths to finalize a bond, making sure you were perfectly attuned before the final stage begins... you'll know it by the glow." His head drooped as he started to nodded off.
Pidge squirmed, wondering if she should tell them about Lotor bowing before her and Allura, begging them to kill him if he hurt Keith before Kolivan passed out. She decided not to... the news that Lotor didn't trust himself either might not be the reassurance Keith needed right now... she'd tell him, when he needed to hear it. So she left Keith alone with Kolivan, letting her friend calm himself by watching the steady rise and fall of his mentor's breathing.
