Good evening, it's time for chapter eleven! We're back to the main timeline, moving right along! I did want to finish this up yesterday, but it was pretty late by the time I'd finished writing the second to last scene, so I just decided to wait until today to finish everything up. Because a healthy sleep schedule is important, in spite of what the Internet might tell you. Express self love by taking a nap every once in awhile.
Until next time!
anomalous point
chapter eleven
the call
Silence followed Keith's story.
Sold out. If what Keith was saying was true- and he had no reason to doubt that it was- then the truth behind the Kerberos mission was far worse than he realized.
They were meant to be sacrifices. Even if the Galaxy Garrison hadn't known what they were dealing with, it didn't change the fact that they had allowed three of their own to nearly be abducted by an alien race, all for the sake of what? Power? Acclaim? He didn't know what the Galra Empire could have promised them, but whatever it was, it wasn't worth it.
And Keith? Keith had saved them.
"Shiro?"
Glancing up, Shiro tried to force himself to smile, if only to reassure Keith. He'd spaced out there a bit, he knew, but he didn't think anyone was about to blame him, not given the gravity of what he'd just been told.
"It's a lot to take in." Shiro confessed. "But from the sound of it, we owe you our thanks."
Keith frowned. "I don't deserve it."
"No, you do." Shiro insisted. "You did everything you could to keep us safe. You couldn't have known about the faulty parts."
"I should have-!"
"Keith." Shiro cut him off. "It's not your fault."
It wasn't. No part of the crash was Keith's fault. If it hadn't been for him, the three of them would be prisoners by now. He couldn't imagine what fate would have been in store for them, had the Galra Empire successfully taken them. They wouldn't be on Earth now, that was for sure.
Which did bring up another question.
"Do you know why they wanted us?" Shiro asked. "Scientists I can understand, but pilots?"
"We suspect that Zarkon was searching for pilots with special qualities." Allura answered. "My father built a weapon that he seeks to claim for himself. For that, he needs pilots."
He got the sense that there was more to that answer than she was actually telling him, but it sufficed for now. "I take it he hasn't been able to then."
"No." Allura told him. "Thankfully not."
Nodding his head, Shiro looked back towards Keith. He still didn't look convinced, but it wasn't like he could fault him for it. Not when he felt the same way. If anything, he understood.
Living with that kind of blame wasn't easy. He wished he could take it away from him, but he didn't even know what to say. He could think of a million platitudes, but none of them would do the job.
"I guess this explains why the Garrison's been looking for you, huh?" Shiro asked.
Blinking at the change of topic, Keith let out a faint chuckle. "You could say that."
He'd left one hell of an impression, that was for sure. Just hearing his account of the events, cut and dry as it was, was enough to give him that impression. He couldn't imagine how it had played out from the Garrison's perspective.
He tried not to think too much on the fact that Keith had killed someone. His own sense of morality told him that it was wrong, but Keith hadn't been raised human. He'd been raised Galra, and from what little he had learned of them thus far, he doubted that a warrior race had the same qualms about killing.
All the more so during a war.
From that perspective, Keith had taken out an enemy commander. He couldn't say it was the wrong move to make, even with how little he grasped at the moment.
"You didn't think to explain?" Shiro inquired.
"Didn't have the time." Keith told him, shrugging his shoulders. "By the time I got back to Earth, the Galra Empire had plenty of time to smear the Blade of Marmora to the Garrison. I didn't exactly do a whole lot to endear myself to them while I was there either."
That much was true. In hindsight, Keith's combative nature made so much more sense when filtered through the lens of him being from a warrior people, but to a human, it would mark him as violent, uncooperative. Had, in fact. When one added the fact that Keith hadn't come to the Garrison to make friends, but to spy on them, he could kind of understand why it had been so hard for him to get along with everyone else.
It also kind of made the fact that he'd earned his trust that much more heartwarming.
Which did bring up another question.
"How much did Commander Holt know?" Shiro asked. "You said he was helping you."
Nodding his head, Keith dropped his gaze a bit. "Commander Holt was a friend of my father's, back in the day. When mom crashed, he went to him for advice. He helped him hide her ship, and get it back in working order."
"When we came back, dad asked him to cover for me." Keith told him. "Faked some blood tests, that sort of thing. Always kept encouraging me to meet his kids. Didn't think I'd actually do it, though."
At that, Shiro let out a faint laugh. "Funny how life works sometimes."
"If we could get back to the topic at hand," Allura interjected, "-we need your word that you will not mention what has been said here to anyone."
Blinking, Shiro turned back to her. "I don't suppose this means that you plan on letting me go?"
"No, I am afraid not." She told him honestly. "But just as a precaution, it is best to ask."
Nodding his head, Shiro could understand. "It's fine. I won't talk. You've given me some pretty good reasons not to."
"Thought you might want revenge against the Garrison." Keith noted.
"Oh, believe me, I do." Shiro told him. "But I'll leave that sort of thing to you and Katie. You were Red, right? Katie's Internet buddy?"
Letting out a snort, Keith nodded. "Yeah, that was me. Using it to spy on you wasn't exactly part of the plan- mostly I was just trying to keep tabs on her and make sure she didn't do anything stupid."
"Like breaking into the Garrison?" Shiro asked, arching a brow.
"...okay, yeah, I didn't see that one coming." Keith admitted.
"Once all this is over, we will be more than willing to help you expose the Galaxy Garrison's lies." Allura told him, rising to her feet. "With any luck, it should be within this year. Zarkon locating us is a setback, but we have certain plans that are already in motion. This may even work out in our favor."
"Thank you." Shiro told her, sensing that was his cue to get up. "So how is it that you know Keith, if you don't mind me asking?"
Allura gave him a soft smile, exchanging a look with the half-alien in question. "We were raised together, in a sense. After he cleared his first trial, he was assigned to me. That was part of Zarkon's plot as well, but he was unaware at the time that the Blade of Marmora was already acting against him."
"Assigned?" Shiro asked, looking over towards Keith.
"Bodyguard." Keith said with a shrug. "That's how they do things on Altea."
As a child? He wanted to ask that, but he stopped himself. Cultural differences, he reminded himself. Just because something was normal over here, didn't mean the same held true for out in distant space, where Keith had been raised. Maybe the Galra didn't have the same view on childhood as humans did.
Which truthfully was still a concept he was trying to wrap his head around.
"I will admit, I was not thrilled about it at first." Allura confessed. "Being followed twenty four seven by someone whose face I did not know? Not exactly my idea of fun."
"You just say that because I kept catching you trying to sneak out." Keith pointed out. "You nearly had Romelle pulling out her hair on a weekly basis."
"Yes well," coughing into her hand, Allura turned a faint shade of pink, "-how was I supposed to know my future people if I stayed cooped up in the castle all the time? Besides, you say that as if you did not help me."
Keith just shrugged. "Thought it was easier than stopping you."
"Yes well," Ulaz interjected, breaking his silence, "-you caused Kolivan quite a bit of stress on your own, Keith. Let us not forget."
Now it was Keith's turn to flush- a faint shade of purple- to Shiro's surprise. Guess that was what he meant by needing Sam's help with his blood work.
"I take it you knew Keith growing up, then." Shiro commented.
"I helped train him." Ulaz observed. "His antics were well known around our base. I have many stories."
To that, Keith reacted like any other teenager his age would- flushing an even deeper shade of purple, and letting the faintest of nervous laughs escape him. "If we're done here, I should finish showing Shiro around. He still needs to see his quarters."
He had half a mind to tell him that he wanted to hear Ulaz's stories, but he decided to spare him instead. Maybe some other time. "That would be nice, thanks Keith. This place is so big, I'm pretty sure I'd get lost on my own."
He had to wonder if it was designed that way- to confuse any potential intruders. Every hallway looked the same, it was impossible to tell one from the other.
Allura inclined her head, resting her hands in front of her. "Yes, that would be fine. Do be sure to join us for lunch, Shiro. You will not want to miss what Coran is making."
"As long as it's not the paladin lunch." Keith quipped, making a face.
"Yes, that one did not go over so well, did it?" Allura observed. "Sometimes I wonder if Zarkon really started this war just so he would not have to eat another bite of it. But... let us not tell Coran I just said that, shall we?"
"My lips are sealed." Shiro promised her. "Besides, it can't be any worse than what they serve up at the Garrison."
"Oh trust me." Keith told him. "It is."
"Shiro?"
Looking down at Keith, Shiro blinked. He hadn't even realized that he'd spaced out again, but he must have, given the expression on Keith's face. Considering the fact that he hadn't even realized he'd banished his mask, he must have been more out of it than he'd thought.
Giving him a smile, Shiro quickly moved to reassuring mode. "It's nothing, Keith. Just thought I heard something, that's all."
Letting out a snort, Keith leaned back against the wall of the elevator. "Shiro, if you can hear it, so can I. I'm pretty sure whatever you thought you heard, it was just your imagination."
He might be right about that, he thought, trying to put the low rumble out of his thoughts. It was strange- only coming to the forefront every now and again, and each time, he was never quite sure he was actually hearing it. At first he thought it was some part of the ship, but if Keith couldn't hear it, then he guessed maybe he really was imagining it.
"Could be." Shiro admitted, curiously studying the half-alien. He looked more relaxed now than he had been, probably because of the easy way he'd accepted the truth- or what parts of it he had been told, at the very least. "How's your hearing?"
"Better than yours." Keith replied frankly, cupping his hands around his ears. They were round, unlike those of the aliens that he had met thus far, including the one full blooded Galra he'd met. "But worse than any other Galra. I don't even hear as well as an Altean. Got dad to thank for that one, I guess."
"Is he here?" Shiro asked. "Your father, I mean."
Dropping his hands, Keith nodded his head. "Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if we find him in the central hangar with Matt. He's got a thing for classic cars."
Accepting that answer, Shiro tried not to dwell too much on the idea of meeting Keith's father- again. This was a man who had not only rescued an alien, but then proceeded to fall in love and have a child together with her- and if that wasn't enough, he then left his own home planet so that she could carry their child to term on hers.
He couldn't even imagine what he would be like.
Which was weird, because he had actually met him, but their introduction had been rather brief. He'd seemed pretty normal, but there wasn't a single part of what he had just described that was normal.
He wondered what he thought, about having a half-alien son. About having a son that thought of him as the alien. Had he tried to teach him about Earth culture? Based on what he'd heard, Keith hadn't even known what his father was until he was older. It certainly served to explain Keith's rampant curiosity about well... everything, really.
"What about your mom?" Shiro ventured.
"She's here." Keith told him. "You met her last night."
Thoughts flickering back, Shiro recalled the one masked figure who had advanced when Keith did. That was probably her, he figured. She hadn't been as tall as the other one- who he now realized was Ulaz- but she'd been pretty sizable. He wondered what she looked like under the mask.
Keith must have taken after her, in a lot of ways. But he guessed he'd also taken more after his father than he had first suspected- given that he wasn't purple, markings aside, or covered in fur. Granted, he didn't know if Keith's mother was either of those things, but Ulaz had left a pretty strong impression on him.
For a brief moment, he caught himself wondering if the hair on Keith's head was actually fur. It had always been pretty soft...
"Probably not the greatest first impression." Shiro remarked.
Keith laughed- honest to god laughed at that. "Passing out in my arms? Being hauled across the desert on my back? Yeah, definitely not your best impression."
Ducking his head, Shiro was grateful that the elevator came to a stop when it did. Maybe Keith was way stronger than anyone his size should be- at least by human terms- but that didn't make the mental image of him being carried piggyback by him any less embarrassing. He was never going to live that one down.
Keith had shown him around the castle-ship, as promised. They had stopped by his quarters briefly, which he'd been able to access via handprint- something about being in the system now, he'd been told. The bag that he had brought with him was already there, presumably having been searched beforehand. It was right next to Matt's room, and one door away from Katie's- the two cadets were on another floor of the ship, just beneath them.
Keith's quarters were located right across the hall from the princess', on a floor far away from the guest residences. He'd shown him the inside of it, but it had been pretty Spartan, all told. If it was anything like back at the Garrison, then he probably didn't actually spend a whole lot of time there.
From the sound of it, they would have mostly free reign of the castle-ship. There were restricted areas, of course- the bridge, the engine room, the particle barrier generator- any place that could be potentially dangerous. They did have access to the central hangar, but he didn't have to ask to know that they'd probably been locked out of any of the ships stored there.
They weren't allowed to leave the ship- not without an escort. Keith told him that he'd introduce him to her later- she was kind of held up with something at the moment. Something about Hunk and a Balmeran, whatever that was. Some kind of alien, he guessed.
There were other hangars on the ship- five, in fact. But when Shiro had asked about them, Keith merely shook his head, giving him the kind of look that told him that he couldn't answer that.
But the central hangar, it seemed, was where he would catch up to Matt and Katie.
Sure enough, there they were. So was Matt's pride and joy- the green car that he had taken so many pains to restore. There were also a pair of Garrison issued hoverbikes, and what he could only assume was the Galran fighter that Keith had stolen from Commander Trugg. It stood out in the hangar, a certain menace to its appearance.
His gaze was mostly fixed on the second Garrison hoverbike.
The scout. He'd nearly forgotten, with everything else going on.
"Where is-?" Shiro opened his mouth to ask, looking down at Keith.
"Cryofreeze." Keith supplied, following his gaze. "Don't look at me like that Shiro. If he got out, and got back to the Garrison, they could tell the Galra Empire exactly where we are. There was no other option."
Shiro frowned at that- there was something cold to Keith's gaze as he said that, as if he had an alternative solution in mind. He tried to put it aside, tried not to think about it- but while the knowledge that Keith was half-alien hadn't created much of a gap between them, it wasn't like he couldn't pretend one wasn't there.
Thankfully, he found a distraction. Or to be more precise, it found him.
"Shiro!" Matt called out to him. "Oh man, you have got to see these ships."
"Hey Matt." Cracking a grin, Shiro nodded at him. "Where's Katie?"
"She found Dog." Matt told him, as if that somehow answered everything.
"...dog?" Shiro asked, arching a brow, glancing down towards Keith. There was a dog here? Come to think of it, there had been a small bed on the floor of Keith's quarters- did he have a pet?
Huh. That was actually pretty normal.
"She's been down here the entire time?" Keith asked, lowering his hood. "I was wondering where she ran off to."
"Ugh, not only are you half-alien super spy, but you also get a cool space pet. Who let you be so cool?" Matt said- which okay, guess the dog was actually a space dog. At least he was right about it being Keith's. "And then you name it Dog. That's a word, Keith, not a name."
"I'm from space. What other kind of pet am I supposed to have?" Keith asked. "And in my defense, I named her while I was still back on Altea. It passed just fine as a name there."
Matt frowned, eyeing Keith with suspicion. "Hm. Those are fair points, I will admit that. But seriously," he told him, "-you might want to save your teleporting space wolf before Katie gets too carried away."
Shiro nearly choked. "Teleporting space wolf!?"
Keith just shrugged. "Mom found him while she was in the quantum abyss. Where are they?"
He didn't even get a chance to ask what that even was, before Matt pointed Keith in a direction, the half-alien trotting off towards it. Left speechless, he glanced down at Matt, arching a brow. "You're handling this well."
"What can I say?" Matt said, waggling a brow. "I'm adaptable. Besides, this is like, my dream, Shiro. I mean, aliens? The tech they have is amazing!"
"I just," shoulders slumping, Matt's face fell, "-I just wish dad could see it."
"If it's any consolation," a third voice spoke up- and it took him a second to place that gruff tone, "-he's seen it."
Turning on his heel, Shiro came face to face with a man he instantly recognized as being Keith's father. His was a face that was hard to forget, if only because of the scar that notched one of his brows.
"He has?" Matt asked, then frowned. "Wait. You're human."
"Last I checked." Commander Kogane observed. "Take it you're the Holt boy. Your father told me about you."
The realization dawned on Matt then. "You're Keith's father."
"Sure am." The man told him, extending his hand. "Pleasure. From the sound of it, the two of you have been looking after my son fer awhile. I'd say I hope he didn't cause the two of you too many problems, but seeing as you're here, guess that's kind of moot."
Awkwardly glancing up towards Shiro, he merely shrugged his shoulders. Taking Commander Kogane's hand after a moment, he could pinpoint the exact moment he realized what a firm grip the former Garrison pilot had.
"I'm Matt." Matt told him. "Matt Holt. My sister's around here somewhere, but I'm betting you've probably already met her."
"I have." Kogane said with a nod, releasing Matt's hand. "And I believe I've already met you as well. Takashi Shirogane, right? Keith talked about you a lot."
"That's me." Shiro told him, holding out his hand, watching as Kogane switched hands in order to take it. "It's nice to see you again, sir."
"No need fer all that now." Kogane told him. "Kogane's fine."
"Did you really go into space?" Matt blurted out.
"Sure did." Kogane told him, letting go of Shiro's hand. "Can't say I got out much though, being top secret and all that. Keith probably has more stories than I do. He go to rescue Dog from that sister of yours?"
"Just a second ago." Matt told him, glancing back in the direction Keith had run off in. "And Dog? Really?"
Kogane let out a chuckle, shaking his head. "Tried to talk him out of it, but he wouldn't have it. His mother's just as bad though. Heard me say something about having a dog when I was his age, and next thing I know, she comes back home with a cosmic wolf in tow. She doesn't do things by halves, that woman."
For someone he hadn't even met yet, he was starting to get a pretty clear picture of Keith's mother.
"You knew Commander Holt?" Shiro asked, trying to get the subject back on track. He already knew that the answer was yes, but he wasn't sure how much Katie- and thus Matt- had been told.
"Sure did." Kogane told him with a nod. "He was my commanding officer, back in the day. Helped out a lot with Krolia and me. Wish we could have done more for him."
Matt's face fell at that. "But he got to see this, right?"
"Sure did." Kogane told him. "Called him up when we first landed this castle-ship here. Said he was going to bring his wife and kids once the war was over."
His words were followed with silence, knowing that he had never gotten the chance to. Judging from the way Matt clenched and unclenched his fists, it looked like he'd heard the same story he had.
"I can't believe the Garrison tried to sell us out like that." Matt whispered. "We trusted them."
Resting his hand on Matt's shoulder, Shiro turned towards Keith's father. "Did you know? Is that why you didn't report the crash to the Garrison?"
"Didn't know fer sure, not back then." Kogane told him, shaking his head. "Knew they were doing some shady business under the table, that's all. But that was enough for me."
"But you trusted my father." Matt said.
"Commander Holt was a good man." Kogane told him. "I'd trust him with my life."
The words seemed to bring Matt some sense of ease, his fists unclenching. "He was."
"Dad?"
Keith's voice broke the somber mood, causing Shiro to turn on his heel again. The second he did, he froze. He didn't know what he expected from a cosmic wolf, but the animal trotting by Keith's side was well... out of this world, if he was going to go for the easy pun.
The fact that Katie was riding on it did little to alter that impression.
"Hey kiddo." Kogane inclined his head in greeting. "Still on duty?"
"Mostly I'm just playing tour guide right now." Keith told him, cracking a small smile. "Ulaz is on guard duty right now."
"Good," his father told him, reaching out to ruffle his son's hair, ignoring his protests, "-you haven't had a break fer awhile. Kolivan's working you too hard."
"I'm fine, dad." Keith promised him. "I'm a lot sturdier than you."
It sounded absurd, hearing Keith say that. If anything, he looked the more fragile- thin and slight where his father was muscular and large. But he knew that small frame of his held a lot more power than it looked, so odds were, Keith was probably right.
Guess Keith's father wasn't too wild on the whole special forces thing, though. At an age where Keith should have still been in elementary school, he'd been put to work as a bodyguard, made to clear dangerous trials- but that was the cultural norm of the society he'd opted to raise his son in, so he imagined it was pretty hard to complain.
"Oh, I know. I've still got the bite marks to prove it, so believe me, I'm not about to forget that anytime soon." Kogane told him- and Shiro couldn't help but arch a brow. Bite marks? "But you're my son. I'm sort of contractually obliged to worry about you."
Rolling his eyes, Keith folded his arms in front of him. "In front of my friends?"
Friends. Come to think of it, that felt like it was the first time he'd heard Keith refer to him as such.
"Especially in front of your friends, kiddo." Kogane told him. "That's how it works here on Earth."
"Aw, friends!" Matt said, holding his hands over his heart. "You do care!"
"Of course I care." Keith said, giving him a baffled look. "I wouldn't have blown my cover if I didn't."
"Oh so now he's honest about it." Katie said, letting out a snort. "You know what he told me when he came for me? That he had no friends. Like anyone's going to believe that."
Flushing a faint purple color, Keith twitched, clearly fighting the urge to tug his hood back up. He was embarrassed, Shiro realized- it was kind of nice to see that in some respects, Keith wasn't any different from a normal teenager. "I was trying to convince you not to send any more drones, that's all. You don't have to keep bringing it back up."
"I will, and you can't stop me." Katie told him. "Isn't that right, Dog?"
The cosmic wolf let out a sharp bark at her words, and briefly, he couldn't help but wonder if it actually understood her or not.
"Wow sure, take her side." Keith said, sounding betrayed. "I only raised you since you were a pup, that's all."
"Us girls gotta stick together." Katie told him.
Muttering something underneath his breath in a foreign tongue, Keith's shoulders slumped in defeat. "Yeah, fine, okay, maybe that wasn't my best move. Now can we just move on?"
Something in the glimmer of Katie's eyes told him that no, they would not.
Some part of him knew he was dreaming.
The low rumble was back, louder than it had been before. But no matter which direction he turned, he couldn't discern the source of it- nor could he find the end to this strange place.
Above him, stars glimmered. Below, a surface, polished like a mirror, that reflected his image. Everything here possessed a purple tint to it- himself included. Yet strangely, for all that, he did not find himself ill at ease here.
It was peaceful, almost.
Something was calling to him.
Taking a step forward, and then another, he found his feet carrying him forward. The low rumble remained a constant, almost like a familiar companion, as if he had known it all his life. His steps grew sure as he advanced, following its thread.
Faintly, he thought he could hear a voice.
At first, he tried to ignore it. He was still being called, the voice could wait. But then it came again, more insistent this time- and some part of him found it familiar. Not in the same sense as the low rumble, so comforting in its presence, but familiar nonetheless.
It came again, and he realized that it was calling his name.
"Shiro!"
Snapping his eyes open with a gasp, Shiro felt his breath hitch in his throat. Cold sweat clung to the back of his neck, and he barely registered the pressure of someone's hand on his shoulder, nor the violet eyes staring up at him, set in pale yellow sclera, that seemed to faintly glow in the dark.
Keith, he thought numbly, brain taking a second to place the alien features. This was Keith.
But what was Keith doing in his room?
Except he wasn't in his room.
He knew he wasn't in his apartment, that much he remembered. What he didn't remember was when he had left his room, the one that he had been given on the Castle of Lions. Trying to get his bearings, he found himself in an unfamiliar hallway.
Keith was hovering beside him, worry clear in his features- both the familiar and the unfamiliar. He was still clad in his armor, but his mask was gone, hood lowered, revealing his face.
"...keith?"
Letting out a sigh of relief, Keith's shoulders slumped. "You awake?"
"I- yeah." Frowning, Shiro placed a hand on his head, trying to sort his thoughts. "What was I-?"
"Sleepwalking." Keith told him.
Shiro frowned. That didn't sound right. "I don't sleepwalk."
"You're in a totally new environment." Keith told him. "And you had a big shock today. I'm told that's a thing."
That... sounded fair enough, but something about it still didn't sit right with him. "I was having a dream."
"Yeah?" Keith asked. "What kind?"
Opening his mouth to respond, Shiro quickly shut it, furrowing his brow. "I don't- I can't seem to remember. Just that something was calling me."
For a split second, Keith seemed to react to his words- before it vanished, too quick for him to place just what kind of reaction it was. "It was just a dream."
"Yeah," frowning, he got the sense that once again, there was something here that was being left out, "-you're probably right."
"Come on," Keith told him, "-let's get you back to your room."
"That- yeah, that sounds good." Shiro told him. "How did you know to come find me?"
Keith winced a little, and this time he could make out clear guilt playing out on his features. "Your doors are set to trigger an alarm if they're opened during the night."
"Ah." Merely lifting his brows, Shiro somehow didn't find himself all that surprised. "I take it late night snacks are out, then."
"Sorry," Keith told him, "-Kolivan's orders."
Kolivan. The leader of the Blade of Marmora.
"I thought the princess was in charge of this ship." Shiro observed.
"She is." Keith told him. "She just doesn't know."
He wasn't sure what to make of that, to be honest. They were friends- Keith had said as much himself, but apparently he didn't trust them enough to ignore the alarm when it went off in the middle of the night. It wasn't that he was suspicious of Keith, it was just- he thought he would have trusted him a bit more.
But Keith also hadn't trusted him enough to tell him about anything, not until he'd backed him into a corner. What did he have to do to gain that trust, then?
"Shouldn't you be asleep?" Shiro asked.
"I'm Galra, Shiro." Keith told him. "We don't need as much sleep as humans do."
Arching a brow at that, Shiro couldn't help but frown. "But you're also part human."
Frowning, Keith looked up at him. His eyes, especially in the dark, were his most alien feature, but he found nothing to fear there. This was still the same Keith that he knew, he told himself- just because he knew him a little better now, didn't mean anything had changed.
Even if he was capable of killing people.
"Maybe. But culturally, I'm Galra. I didn't even know about my human heritage until I was twelve." Keith said- and then, as if sensing what was on his mind, "Does that- does that bother you?"
Closing his eyes, Shiro considered the question for a long moment. To do anything less would be a disservice. "It's different." He admitted after a moment. "But back at the Garrison- it's not like you were acting, right?"
"Well... no." Keith admitted. "But I was lying."
"To be fair," cracking an eye open, Shiro grinned, "-nobody exactly asked you if you were human."
"I'd be pretty surprised if they did." Keith told him. "No offense Shiro, but I'm pretty sure the only thing keeping people from suspecting I was an alien was the fact that your planet is so backwater, you actually have people who think humans are alone in the universe."
"You know, I almost want to take offense to that, but you're right." Shiro admitted.
"I'm just surprised you never said anything. It's not like I don't look weird for a human." Keith told him, glancing down at one of his hands. In the dark, covered in armor, his sharp nails nearly looked like claws. He wondered if that was what they were supposed to be.
"I mean, I did notice." Shiro told him. "But you always seemed so self-conscious, that I didn't feel right bringing it up."
"Not the word I would have picked." Keith noted. "But I guess you're right. I'm not- before coming to the Garrison, showing my face around that many people just wasn't something I did. The Blade of Marmora is built on anonymity."
"Yeah, I sort of guessed as much." Shiro said. "Guess being here really pushed you out of your comfort zone, huh?"
"It's not all bad." Keith told him. "The food's nice. Being able to pick my own clothes is fun. And the people," looking up at him, he gave him a smile, "...the people are good. Mostly."
"Not such a bad heritage to have, huh?" Shiro asked.
"Eh, it could be worse." Keith said with a shrug.
Letting out a faint chuckle, Shiro gave Keith a smile. "Glad to hear it."
Nodding his head, Keith abruptly came to a halt. It took Shiro a moment to realize they were in front of his room. "I can program the door not to open until the morning, if you're worried you'll start sleepwalking again."
"That... might be a good idea." Shiro said. He couldn't say for sure if that would happen again or not, but sleepwalking around a spaceship didn't exactly sound safe, even if he was locked out of the more dangerous parts of it. "Sorry for the trouble."
"I'm basically locking you in." Keith told him. "I'm the one who should apologize."
It didn't take a huge leap to get what Keith was implying. "It's not keeping me prisoner if I agree to it."
Keith frowned, looking unconvinced. "If you say so."
"I do." Shiro told him. "Goodnight, Keith. Maybe humor me and try to get some sleep."
It earned him a faint laugh, Keith nodding his head. "I'll try. No promises, though."
"Good enough for me." Shiro told him. "See you in the morning."
"Yeah," giving him a weak smile, Keith rested his hand against the door panel, "-see you."
Letting the door close behind him, Shiro sank back down on the bed. Closing his eyes, he didn't lay down just yet. He didn't know if he was afraid of going back to sleep or not, but he couldn't help but wonder what that had been about.
And why he couldn't shake the feeling that Keith was lying to him about something.
Keith didn't linger.
He made quick work of locking Shiro's door- just until morning, when the lock would override itself. He wasn't lying about feeling guilty about doing this, but it was better than letting him wander the halls of the castle-ship in an unconscious state.
He knew he would have to bring it up to Allura, but he didn't like it. There was always the fear that the druids could sneak a spy in here, under the guise of a refugee. They took caution to prevent that, but there was no telling what lengths they would go to in order to get a person inside.
Especially not since Lotor had turned his attention to Earth.
And Lotor had Narti.
But he didn't think that was what this was. Not based off what Shiro had told him. Frowning, he raised his hood, switching his mask back on. He wasn't sure what he'd find, but he needed to go check for himself.
Aside from the Alteans, he was the only person here who had access to this part of ship. Kolivan did as well, but he was rarely present, too busy with the war effort to afford the time to come out to the fringes himself. Even his mother and Ulaz didn't have access- a security feature, reducing the number of people who had clearance to small handful.
He was in the unique position of having grown up in the shadow of two lions- which had made him a bit sensitive to their energies. Not to the extent the princess was- but no one could match the princess in that regard, not even her father. It was her power they used to hide the black lion from Zarkon's eyes, severing the bond that he once held with it.
Empress Honerva envied that ability, that potential.
Prince Lotor wanted it for himself.
So it was fitting that she was already there when he arrived at the black lion's hangar.
"Princess."
Turning on her heel, she frowned at the sight of him. He didn't question how she had slipped past her guard- he hadn't spent a significant portion of his life as her shadow to not know how good she was at that.
"I take it you are not here to escort me back to my room." Allura observed.
Folding his arms in front of him, Keith stared up at the black lion. It slept, surrounded by its particle barrier, keeping all out. Kolivan had hoped to find a new paladin for it, but thus far, it had responded to no one.
Until now.
Though he hadn't answered her, he didn't need to. She knew him well enough to read him, with little more than his body language to go off of. It was an odd friendship, one that neither of them acknowledged, aware of their respective positions. There were boundaries that simply couldn't be crossed.
"I heard it." Allura told him, gazing up at the black lion herself. "It was calling."
Turning on her heel, she looked back at him. "You know to who."
Inclining his head, Keith didn't tear his gaze away from the black lion.
"Shiro."