Keith awoke to the 30th day since he was told to part from Lance.
A full month. Shiro hadn't exactly given them exact times or been very specific when they first started this. Keith assumes it was because Shiro thought they would have gotten over each other by now.
But today was the day.
It was getting harder and harder to cope with Allura's constant presence anyway. She had made it her goal to keep them separated at all times, purposively assigning them to talk and spend their full time with different sections of the coalition.
Of course, that is what they were supposed to be doing, but Pidge, Hunk, and Shiro never spent nearly as much time with the alliances as Lance and him did.
Some part of Keith wondered if it was just because she was spiteful about Blue choosing Lance over herself.
Even when they were standing in a room, she made sure they held several feet apart. If they even so much as looked at each other for too long, she would snap at them to do something else.
It was starting to piss Keith off, and he was positive Lance wasn't much better.
And what was worse, was that Shiro never stood up on their behalf. He just went along with what Allura said, avoiding Keith's gaze when he turned to glare at him.
The team on missions or in public weren't that bad. They all managed to push aside their strife to save innocents and defeat the Galra
But it sure was awkward in the castle. At least Hunk and Pidge seemed to have mellowed on the whole topic. Pidge even apologized and seemed to be helping them out.
Things only seemed to get worse after that incident with prince Rol.
To say Keith was overprotective of Lance was an understatement, but having to sit there and watch as that slimy, low life Prince attempted to flirt with his Equivalent….
It still made Keith's blood boil. At least he had gotten a little bit of time with Lance afterward.
Now, it seemed hard even to try to do anything else. It was… depressing.
Keith would usually be training around now, but he was still in bed. He had been there for hours.
He couldn't move.
It hurt .
He just had to roll out of bed, and then he could see Lance. That is all he had to do, so why wasn't his body listening to him?
The pain kept surfacing, tormenting him into unbelievable torture. Memories seemed to be the only thing that could comfort him. Memories of being able to hold Lance, wake up beside him, kiss him- yet not being able to do that for weeks was draining him. It felt worse than any broken bone.
He stayed curled in the fetal position his body had found itself in as each memory played out in his head. He can't stop the pain from seeping into his skin.
No Lance. Fighting with Shiro. Wrestling with the team. He hates it so much.
If that isn't enough, there is this fear. A fear of Lance leaving him, or getting bored of him. It terrifies him so much.
He wondered if Lance knew how special he was; how precious he was to him. But most of all, he wondered if Lance knew just how lucky everyone who knew him was to have such a caring person in their life.
Yet he wasn't allowed to appreciate his Equivalent because of some old alien rule.
It was maddening.
"Keith!"
He dully lifts his head when he heard Allura call to him over the intercom. He scowls and lowers his head back down to his pillow.
She wants him to join the others for training. They couldn't slack off just because they were with the coalition.
He can hear the others talking in the background.
He makes no effort to move.
Willing to lay there for the rest of his life he lifted the second pillow over his face. He needed some time to rest before he was ready to deal with Allura today.
Then, like the call of an angel, Lance's voice echoed through the castle walls. From the way Allura yelled, it sounded like Lance had either bodily shoved her out of the way to get to the intercom, or had yanked it from her hands.
"Keith~! Sweetheart~!I can't properly focus on training if you aren't here ~"
"Lance…! " There was the sound of rustling, like Lance and the Princess were fighting for the intercom
" Return the intercom at once!"
"Fight me!"
Shiro was calling this time, trying to pull the two apart. " Lance, let go of her hair! Allura don't bite him! Coran, don't just stand there! Do something!"
Keith rose slowly. He listened in utter silence to this situation, not sure if it was okay to laugh at something like this.
Finally, like the intercom had been forgotten, Pidge's voice spoke out calmly, " I'd get up here Keith. Your boyfriend is causing a scene."
His boyfriend.
"Oh wait no, it's not that, is it? " Pidge mumbled. " What was the word again? It was like a math term almost. Equilateral?"
"Equivalents I think ." Hunk speaks next
"Right right, your Equivalent is getting sassy with the Princess, so you better get up here. "
There was no sarcastic tone in Pidge's voice- just amusement. She meant it and sounded like she accepted saying such a thing.
Feeling motivated for the first time since yesterday morning, from both Lance and Pidge's voice, Keith scrambled to his feet and got dressed. He met up with everyone on the bridge five minutes later. Lance welcomed him with a broad smile.
"Hi-" he is cut off by Allura.
"Keith, it is about time you decided to join us. As a Paladin of Voltron, it is not acceptable behavior to miss your training sessions!"
And there goes all of Keith's energy for the day. His shoulders physically slouched the moment she opened her big mouth.
"Well, he trains during every other hour of the day." Hunk points out softly. "He makes up for it through that and then some." Allura glanced at him, shocked he took Keith's side instead of hers. He quickly twiddles his thumbs at her look, "...Just saying."
Lance was snickering, giving Hunk a quiet high five.
"Do you have anything to say, Keith?" she folds her arms. Keith blinked once, then twice. He couldn't even find the energy to shake his head. She seemed to see this as a form of sour attitude and got angry. Keith could usually get through her scolding quickly, but he found himself struggling to stay focused.
He felt sluggish and heavy. He had hardly slept that night, or even the night before. It was like his body was translucent, not truly there. If he could just spend a little time with Lance, maybe he could recharge or something? He felt better when he was with him.
Speaking of….
"It's the day," he says softly. Allura cuts off mid-rant.
"What?"
"Today is the day." he continued, stepping forward slowly. One step, two, he was inching his way across the room, his footsteps growing the farther he stretched his legs out. He went past Allura, past the team. He didn't stop till he was in front of Lance.
His blue eyes were wide and puzzled.
"Keith?" he extended his hand out, worried about his strange behavior. "Sweetheart, what's-" He cut off when Keith embraced him. Well, more of bodily threw himself into Lance. There was enough force in it to almost knock them both over, and Lance was stumbling back into one of their chairs.
Keith crawled upward, straddling Lance in a very unusual hold, like a koala clinging to a tree. He buried his face into Lance's shoulder, and that was that. This is where he was going to be for the rest of the day. The team could get a crowbar in here, and they would not be any closer to removing him.
It was very bizarre behavior for Keith.
"Keith!" Allura screeched.
"That's inappropriate, Keith," Shiro says stiffly, his eyebrows furrowed together.
Keith lifted his middle finger without moving much else of his body. "I need a few minutes," he whispered against Lance's neck. "Just a few. A recharge. I can't make it otherwise."
Lance swallows, "A recharge?" he asked. "What do you mean?"
"Separate at once!" Allura commanded, making her way towards them, prepared to pull the two apart like velcro. She grabbed Keith's arms, starting to tug. Lance yelled at her, slapping her hand away.
"Don't touch him!"
"Then remove him!"
Keith snapped over his shoulder when Allura refused to simply accept the fact that this was happening. It was time he put his foot down. "It's been a month! We did as Shiro asked, but that's over with now!"
Shiro looked floored, running the days over in his mind. Realizing Keith was somewhat right, he shifted his weight. "Keith, this isn't the time. We have too many things going on. Let's talk about this later-"
"We already talked about it! So let me have this! I need this!" he roared, burying his face back into Lance's chest.
Said blue paladin was utterly confused and sat with Keith curled up in his arms. Everything about this seemed weird. It was normal for Keith to argue with Allura and Shiro, and yes it had been 30 days, but the red paladin looked… exhausted.
Keith's words held the bite he knew and loved, yet there was no motivation in the rest of his body. It was like someone drained the energy out of him.
Allura was giving it one more go to tear the two apart. Keith turned his body enough to act like he would attempt to fend her off, but had no actual strength to do so. WIth how weak he seemed she might have been able to tug him away but then the screen in front of them blared to life.
An emergency transmission from one of the coalition was coming through.
"Paladins!" The leader of the Pluig Planet, one of their first allies in the Coalition, suddenly appeared on the screen. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but we just got word of information that might be quite valuable to you!" as he spoke, his excited smile died off. He took in the sight of the room before him, tilting his head. "Is… something wrong?"
Allura, frozen in her position and reaching for Lance and Keith, quickly stepped back. She folded her arms behind her back and forced a smile, "Just fine." she assured him. The Pluig leader glanced back at Lance and Keith, his eyes drawn to the interaction. Allura seemed to sense this and panicked.
"W-What information do you have?!" she yelled, quickly lowering her voice, "Anything to aid in the fight against the Galra empire is most useful."
"Oh, right." The Pluid leader tore his eyes away from the two cuddling paladins. "Two things, one more of a request then information. We are sending a ship towards the Coalition capital. There is a Blade of Marmora member on board. She is injured but not in critical condition, so the ship is taking a slow course to avoid detection."
"How was the Marmora member injured?" Pidge asked.
Lance recognized the Pluig leader. When he had visited their planet, they had been very scornful to the Blade. Now, his eyes softened, looking grateful.
"There had been a small raid on our planet just yesterday. We were going to call for aid, but she stepped forward. I had never seen a pilot quite like her. Her ship sustained some damage and crash landed. We managed to pull her out, but she insisted on heading straight to the coalition to continue her work. She should be there soon, within the next few days."
"We'll inform the Blade of Marmora and Kolivan." Shiro tells him, "Did you happen to catch her name?"
"Krolia," he answered.
Remembering that name, Shiro nods, "What is the second thing you needed to inform us about?"
"It was the reason Krolia was here. There is a large movement of Galra ships on the edge of our system that she was looking into. They don't seem to be aiming to attack any planet but are moving in large numbers. They are heading towards something, leaving every other planet under their watch behind."
"That much Galran movement isn't normal." Pidge folds her arms.
"Agreed." Allura lifts her hand to extend the known universal map throughout the room. "On the edge of your system you said?" she highlighted the area, noting all the planets close in range still under Galra control. "That is a lot of resources they are leaving behind. Each of these planets are large mining facilities or food supplies to the Galran empire."
"That is a big hit against them if we manage to take them," Shiro says thoughtfully. "This could be a chance to gain more footing."
"What about what they are heading to?" Lance spoke up. The room looked at him. He had shifted positions, Keith perched on his hip like an infant, eyes closed and nuzzling his neck. Despite the cute look of the two paladins, Lance brought up a good point. "If they are willing to leave those planets defenseless, what exactly are they heading to that is so important?"
"I'm not sure." The Pluid leader admits, concerned now that he was thinking about it.
"Should we check out both sides? Gather some help from the coalition so one group can gain those planets before they return while the other follows those ships?" Pidge suggested.
Shiro nodded, "That sounds like the best play here, Pidge. We'll gather our forces. We'll have the Marmora follow behind those ships and see where they are headed. Voltron and the coalition will secure the planets then meet up the Blade when they figured out where those ships are headed. Thank you for this information, we shall be there soon." with shared nods of their heads, the transmission was cut off. "Alright team, let's get ready to head out."
"I'll contact the coalition groups who are out of the capital to get them heading to the location." Allura says, then turns, "And will you two please separate?" she demanded. "We don't have time for this! What if he had questioned you two?
Lance pursed his lips, "If who had questioned us?"
"The Pluid leader?" Pidge inquired.
"Yes, him! What if he went spreading this around to the Coalition! It would be a disaster! Humiliating!" Allura threw her arms up
"Humiliating?" Lance seethed, "Get off your high horse, Allura!" getting to his feet, he forced Keith to stand on his own. "We got bigger things to worry about then the Coalition figuring out Keith, and I love each other. Which, by the way, I wouldn't care if they did, because it wouldn't change anything."
Allura growled, jabbing a finger towards the door. "Go help ready the coalition."
Growling, Lance began to step to the door. Stopped by Keith's hand on his wrist, he looked back to see wide eyes, pleading with him to stay. "I'll go help." Keith offered sweetly.
"You need to head down to the Blade and get them ready to go." Shiro corrects him. Keith seemed to gain a bit of his energy back and challenge Shiro with a glare. He only calmed down when Lance agreed with him.
"He's right, Keith. Who knows what this could be about, so we need to move fast." he squeezed his Equivalent's hand. "I'll see you when we're both done."
Keith deflated, "Oh. Okay… Bye." slipping his fingers away he moved past them to get his job done. Lance watched with a tight feeling in his chest. Sighing he slowly exited the room, the stares of the Green and Yellow paladin following.
000-000
Hunk didn't know what to do.
Allura was putting Keith and Lance through hell, barking at them, making the two more miserable than Hunk had ever seen them. It was hard enough trying to set up a full attack in just a matter of an hour.
He could hardly take it. It felt so pointless and ridiculous. And he agreed to this.
It made his chest hurt and his legs feel numb thinking that he had thought it was a good idea to separate them. He wanted to talk to someone about this, but what could he say?
He was wandering through the halls of the coalition capital, moving past Olkari and other alien species, taking a box down to the Blade of Marmora before they departed. He heard Keith would begin training with them soon.
As he sauntered down the stairs, he saw their red paladin talking to them. He wasn't wearing the standard Paladin armor and instead was dressed in the Marmora battle gear. It made him seem like one of them. Just a smaller one of them. He was very easy to pick out compared to their towering heights.
Kolivan was nodding his head as Keith spoke, motioning for a few Marmora members to finish stocking the ship to head out. Relo, the Marmora member who had aided them of Iespion, quickly ran up, saying a few things before heading towards Hunk.
He paused, "Yellow Paladin." he greeted. "Is that for us?" he motioned to the box. Hunk nodded, handing it to him.
"Are you ready to go?" Hunk asked. "We know this was last minute."
"Most things are, so it is okay." Relo says, "We've been trained for things like this." he looked back at Kolivan and Keith. "While I have you here, I have a small question. Has the red paladin been eating properly?"
Hunk arched his eyebrow, "Eating properly? I think so, why?"
"He seems a little thin lately," Relo explained. Hunk trailed his eyes back to Keith, not able to see it. Though, he supposed that seeing him every day would stop him from noticing that. Relo didn't see him that often so would probably notice it more than he would.
"Well, just thought I would ask." Adjusting the box in his arms Relo ran off, catching Kolivan's attention. Turning to see where he received the box he motioned for Keith to head out.
Hunk felt nervous when Keith joined him but found his courage to speak up, "Hi, Keith. A-All good?" Now that he thought about it, maybe Keith had lost some weight?
Keith barely acknowledged him with a nod.
"You okay…?" Hunk titled his head, following him back towards the stairs. He was taking one step at a time, slow and uneven.
"Yeah…" Keith wouldn't say it out loud, but he hadn't slept well in three days.
"You don't look well…" Hunk says, sticking his hand out when Keith wobbled. He gently pushed Hunk's fingers away.
"I'm fine," he says stiffly. Together they returned to the castle where Coran met with them.
"About time you two got back. We're heading out soon once Allura can finish talking with the coalition," he explains. He noticed something seemed off about the two of them, "You lads okay?"
"Keith isn't feeling well," Hunk says quickly.
He scowls, "I'm fine. Just sleeping badly."
Despite his words, Coran shuffles over to examine him. The moment he sees the heavy bags under his eyes and pale face he frowns. "Lad, you look ready to pass out. Come along," Coran refuses to let Keith weasel his way out of this and dragged him to the examination rooms below to give him a checkup. They knew something had to be up when Keith had little to no energy to fight back.
Hunk followed, watching nervously as Coran checked his vitals. Keith didn't seem pleased with any of this but didn't move so they could get it over with.
"What's going on here?" Pidge peeked her head in a little later, puzzled to see Keith seated on the examination table.
"Keith isn't feeling well." Hunk tells her.
"Stop telling people that. I told you already; I'm fine." Keith barked.
Coran clears his throat, "No Keith, you're not." Everyone paused, confused. "You're physically and mentally exhausted," Coran says gently. "Have you been pushing yourself in training?"
"No. I do the normal amount," he mutters. He had been doing less lately. He didn't feel up to training as much as he used to.
"Do you sleep well at night?" Pidge asks. He shrugs in return, glancing at his feet. He hadn't slept well since they left Iespion.
Since he was separated from Lance…
"I… No, but it's fine."
"When did you stop sleeping well?" Coran continued.
Keith sighed, "I-I dunno. A while, I guess? I used to sleep fine before. It's been hard to lately." he started talking without even realizing, the words bubbling out of his mouth like a waterfall, "I feel weird. Off, you know? Like something is wrong, and sometimes I feel like I'm in pain. I try to sleep it off, and I used to be able to sleep alone and then- well, it changed when Lance and I got back."
"Did you two share a bed at Iespion?" Coran asked so bluntly that Pidge and Hunk feel embarrassed at the topic. Keith nods though, and Coran seems to realize what is going on. "It must be Lance then."
"Lance?" Keith growled, not liking that Coran had just accused his equivalent of doing something wrong.
Hunk is confused, "He is stopping Keith from sleeping?"
"Not exactly. It's the separation, I suppose," Coran concludes, "They were attached by the ears the entire time they were on that planet. This huge gap may be causing the two distress,"
"Whoa whoa," Hunk went pale, "Distress? What do you mean?"
"Like separation anxiety," Pidge rubbed her chin. She snapped her fingers, placing the puzzle pieces together, "They are restless without each other."
"Wha- but they aren't… they still see each other," Hunk whispers, not realizing it could be that bad
"Allura keeps them at a 5-foot distance apart at all time. It's like a wall is between them. They can barely even talk for longer than 30 seconds before they have to go their separate ways…. Allura and Shiro isolated them," Pidge says, almost sounding spiteful.
Hunk covered his mouth, shocked. "Then- this is our fault."
"No," Keith says quickly. "I'm fine. This is nothing." he had said that at least three times by now. They all knew he had to realize that he was far from okay.
"Keith." Coran shakes his head. "This is a problem."
"I don't want everyone freaking out over nothing." Keith slides off of the table, straightening his jacket. "It's just poor sleep. I'll get better." he pauses, his voice soft, "Don't tell Lance about this."
"What?" Pidge frowned, "Why not?"
"Keep this a secret…" he pleaded, "I don't want him worrying about me when we are about to head out on a mission. He needs to be focused, so he doesn't get hurt." he turns, leaving the room. By his request, they kept the situation quiet from Lance, Allura, and Shiro.
It didn't stop them from worrying.
"Shouldn't we do something? Let him go sleep?" Hunk inquired softly on the deck, making sure to keep his voice low.
Pidge shakes her head, "He says he hasn't been able to sleep well, even when exhausted. I don't think it will solve anything. Perhaps if we gave him something to force him to sleep it could work."
"For the time being that might be the best option. We'll need to wait till after the mission though. I have something that can help him sleep, but it'll knock him out for several hours." he turns, rubbing his chin. He had a look on his face as if he was thinking about something. "I have a feeling this is something much more than just not being able to sleep."
"Is he sick?" Hunk asked, worried.
Coran shakes his head, "No, not quite that either. I'll have to do a little research to confirm this. For now, make sure to keep an eye on him when you head out there."
The two paladins nodded.
As Coran left Hunk went to follow him but was tugged back by Pidge. "Pidge?"
She stared at her feet, biting her lower lip. "Hunk," she says stiffly. "If Keith's health is in jeopardy because of Allura's rule…. Then we need to do something about it."
Hunk shifted on the balls of his feet, "I agree!" he says quickly, "But what can we do?"
Looking over her shoulder to the computer, the green paladin felt an idea budding in her mind. "We're gonna get a few pictures spreading around."
Not sure what she meant Hunk followed her to the computer regardless, ready to do what he could for his friends.
15 minutes later they were fist bumping each other, their plan in motion. By the time Allura would realize what happened, it would already be too late. The had ignited the flame; now they just had to wait for the fire to spread.
"Social media is great." Pidge snickered
Part two: The Coalition is buzzling with the recent discovery of Voltron Blue and Red paladins.
Relo of the Blade of Marmora worries for the destiny of their newest young Blade memory.
Meanwhile, a young Prince Lotor is not having a great day.