This chapter contains highly-dubious Space Science. I was an English Major and a current student of Library and Information Science. I did as much research as I could, but this still comes out as highly-dubious Space Science.

Chapter 36:

Tali looked up from her bowl of cereal and arched an eyebrow.

"Are you seriously still moping over the Sasquatch?" She asked Keith, who was resting his head on his folded arms on the dining room table.

"No…" Keith mumbled.

"The new conspiracy theory board that's up in your room says otherwise," Lance said as he picked up his own bowl to drink the rest of the milk from his cereal.

"I'm not moping," Keith said again, slowly lifting his head. The rest of the crew saw the dark circles under his red, swollen eyes, his skin pale and sheening slightly.

"No offense, but you look terrible," Hunk said, frowning. "How late did you stay up with that new conspiracy theory board?"

"I didn't," Keith said with a groan, leaning back in his seat, arms folded over his chest. "Just don't feel good. Didn't sleep well last night, and my head hurts."

"Maybe you're coming down with something," Lani suggested. She reached over and placed the backs of her fingers to Keith's forehead, under his bangs. She frowned. "Oh, yeah, you're really warm. You're definitely getting sick if not already sick."

"With what?" Pidge asked. "There's not like there's a cold and flu season in space, and we haven't come in contact with anyone who has been sick."

"The problem is that we may have unknowingly," Shiro said, then he turned to Keith. "You should probably go back to bed."

"That involves getting up," Keith grumbled.

Lance stood up and offered his hands for Keith to take. "Come on, I'll brave your icky sick germs and help you get to your room and settled."

Keith took Lance's hands and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet, leaning heavily on Lance as the Blue Paladin took him to his room.

"What happens if Voltron is needed while Paladin Keith is sick?" Caelum asked once Keith and Lance were out of the room. "He cannot possibly pilot in the state he's in."

"No, we wouldn't let him even if he tried," Shiro said. "If we need Voltron, Lance will pilot the Red Lion, and Allura will pilot the Blue Lion."

"Princess, you can pilot the Lions as well?" Caelum said with surprise.

"Only in certain circumstances," Allura explained. "And only so far have done so with the Blue and Yellow Lions. If not Shiro, the Black Lion prefers Keith to pilot her, and in those instances where the Red Lion cannot have her Paladin, she chooses Lance."

"And by 'chooses', we mean Red and Blue once had an epic stare-down that ended with Blue reluctantly ejecting Lance from her cockpit, then turned to Allura while Red quite literally snatched up Lance." Pidge explained.

"That was the scariest thing ever," Hunk whispered with a shudder. "Most intense custody battle the universe has ever seen."

"Moral of the story, when the Lions of Voltron aren't happy, no one is allowed to be happy." Pidge added.

"Good to know for future reference," Shinji said with a nod. "Think Keith'll be okay?"

"Yeah, the hardest part is going to be keeping him occupied so that he actually rests," Shiro said. "But we can handle that."

To everyone's surprise, Keith slept most of the day, waking up only when prodded to eat, drink water, and take medication.

"Well, I got him to eat a little," Lance said with a frown as he brought what was left of Keith's dinner into the kitchen.

"That looks hardly touched at all," Allura commented with concern when she saw the bowl. "And he didn't eat breakfast, and hardly any lunch."

"Lack of appetite isn't an uncommon side effect of being sick," Hunk pointed out. "Especially if there's a chance he could be coming down with a stomach bug."

They all went to sleep shortly after, no one too terribly concerned about Keith.

Pidge squeezed their shut eyes in their sleep.

The dream they were having was weird. It was hot and dark despite the rising, crackling flames that surrounded her. She felt her heart beating fast, with worry, with fear, with… with something.

Paladin, my Paladin, you need to awaken! You need to hurry!

Green?

Why was Green talking to her in this space? Fire wasn't her element.

Paladin! Please! Hurry! He needs help!

Who needs help?

And then the silence of the night, the silence of space, was broken by the sound of a loud roar.

Pidge jolted awake, fumbling for their glasses, eyes wide.

That was the Red Lion's roar.

Their feet hit the floor, running for the door.

Something was wrong.

Pidge opened the door to see Lance running past, Shiro behind him.

Their heart caught in their throat as they caught Hunk's glance before they both took off down the hall as well.

Something was wrong with Keith.

Pidge and Hunk got to Keith's room, the door open with Lance and Shiro already on the floor on their knees. The two rushed inside to help.

Keith was thrashing on the floor, attempting to tear at his own skin, eyes wide, mouth open in a silent scream, gasping for air, almost hyperventilating, drops of his own blood on the floor around him. Lance and Shiro were trying—fairly unsuccessfully—to pin down Keith's wrists to keep him from further hurting himself. Hunk grabbed hold of Keith's left arm—where the wounds seemed to be the worst—in an attempt to staunch the bleeding, and Pidge rushed to the other side to attempt to do the same.

But what scared Pidge the most was that Keith's body was shifting back and forth between human and Galra. One second Keith's right eye was golden, the next it was back to violet. His skin was shifting between purple and its lighter tone, so that it looked like Keith's skin was marred by constantly appearing and disappearing bruises. His fingernails kept lengthening and sharpening into claws that tore at his skin, but then kept shrinking, the short, dull nails doing just as much damage as the claws.

"What is going—?" Allura started to say from the door, but then she cut herself off with a gasp, rushing inside.

"Keith, what's wrong?" Lance asked. "What hurts?"

Keith couldn't answer, he just kept gasping for breath.

"Is he having a seizure?" Tali asked.

"I don't think so," Shiro said. "Caelum, take over for Pidge, your hands are bigger than theirs."

Pidge moved for Caelum to take their place, but had barely gotten to their feet when the entire Castle began to shake.

"Are we under attack?" Lani asked, pausing briefly in helping Coran sort through the first aid kit the older Altean had grabbed from a nearby room as soon as he saw the situation.

A loud, angry roar began to accompany the shaking.

"That's Red!" Pidge exclaimed. "She's trying to get to Keith!"

"She's going to destroy the Castle, which is not going to help him," Allura said. "Pidge, we need to get to the Blue and Green Lions and try to get her out."

"They won't be able to get her out, Blue and Green aren't big enough," Shiro said as Allura and Pidge ran out of the room. "Shinji, take my place, Tali take Hunk's."

The switch happened so fast, but Shiro felt bad leaving the room and Keith, especially as he heard Lance try to coach Keith in taking deep breaths. Shiro forced himself to continue on towards the hanger;

"Hunk, see if you can pull Red out of the hanger," Shiro said as he grabbed the controls of the Black Lion.

"Roger that!" Hunk said, guiding the Yellow Lion into Red's hanger, grabbing the smaller Lion by what would be—on a real lion—the scruff of the neck, dragging her into space, throwing her a good distance away from the Castle.

Red roared in displeasure as she zoomed back towards the Castle, letting out a second, louder roar when she saw that Allura had used the Blue Lion's ice powers to block the entrance to her hanger.

"Good thinking, Allura," Pidge commented.

"Um, except for one thing!" Hunk said urgently as Red's mouth began to glow. "Red breathes fire!"

Before Red could unleash any of the said fire, Shiro knocked into her with the Black Lion, sending her spinning into space; without a pilot, she needed a moment to regain her footing.

"Oh, she is not happy." Allura said, eyes widening.

"How can we get her to chill out?" Pidge asked. "We've never had any of the Lions react this way before."

"The Black Lion is telling me that none of them have ever done this before," Shiro said, frowning. "I think in this case we treat Red like she's a Robeast."

"So we're making up our strategy as we go then?" Hunk asked. "Whoa!" He suddenly jerked Yellow out of Red's path.

"Basically," Shiro said, clamping Black's jaw around Red's neck, sending the smaller Lion thrashing.

()()()()()()()()()()()

"Let's try to get him upright, that might help him breathe," Coran said. Lance and Tali nodded and each let go of Keith's wrist with one hand in order to slip it under his back, helping Coran lift Keith up into a sitting position.

Then, to their horror, Keith let out a shuddering gasp and his eyes rolled back, his entire body going limp.

"Keith!" Lance and Tali exclaimed in horror as Caelum and Shinji both rushed to keep Keith from crashing to the floor, instead lowering him back.

"I don't think he's breathing," Shinji said grimly.

"Move!" Lani ordered, shoving Shinji and Tali aside. "Move!"

In quick, clearly well-practiced movements, Lani grabbed Keith's chin, tilting his head back and opening his mouth, placing her other hand in front of his mouth. She swore, then moved her hands to Keith's chest, rapidly compressing before she moved back to tilting Keith's head back, pressing her mouth to his.

"Come on," Lani mumbled as she went back to doing the compressions.

"He's got a pulse, he's just not getting oxygen in," Coran said, his fingers on Keith's wrist.

"Keith, come on, breathe," Tali whispered, tears in her eyes.

()()()()()()()()()()

To the horror of the Paladins and Allura, Red suddenly went slack in the Black Lion's grasp.

()()()()()()()()()()

Lani pressed her mouth to Keith's again, blowing air into his throat, trying to encourage him to breathe on his own.

She lifted her head, preparing to do more compressions when suddenly Keith took a sharp inhale, his eyes flying open. He took some deep shuddering breaths on his own.

"Oh thank God," Lance whispered, scrambling over to Keith's side, grabbing his hand. He gently squeezed Keith's fingers and opened his mouth to say something…

And Keith made a low, rumbling noise as he tried to push himself up on his elbows.

And everyone in the room was suddenly, vividly aware that this was Keith's body in front of them, but it was not being controlled by Keith.

"Hello, Red Lion," Coran said. "How about we get you to the infirmary now?"

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Shinji met Shiro, Hunk, Pidge and Allura in the bay where all the hangers met.

"Keith's okay," He said quickly. He frowned and amended, "Well, he's stable, at least. The Red Lion kind of took over his body."

"That was what we were hoping was happening when Red shut down," Hunk said. "Was it bad?"

Shinji's frown deepened and he made a move as if to stick his hands in his pants pockets, then seemed to remember he was still wearing PJ bottoms because he sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Bad doesn't begin to describe it, considering Lani was giving him CPR when Red took over."

"Geez," Pidge breathed.

"Where is everyone else now?" Shiro asked, face grim.

"Infirmary. I told them I'd meet you here so that you got in the loop faster, didn't freak out and stuff," Shinji said.

They headed straight there, all unsure of what they would find when they got there.

Compared to the chaos and panic of the last few minutes, it was relatively peaceful. Caelum was helping Coran with some equipment. Tali stood at the end of the bed, her thumbnail between her teeth with her other arm hugging her chest slightly. Lance sat in a chair beside the bed, while Lani stood on the other side, adjusting pillows and blankets needlessly. The fact that everyone was still dressed for bed didn't seem to be an issue for anyone, and was so low of a priority that it didn't even make it onto the list.

And then there was Keith. Or, more accurately, the Red Lion occupying Keith's body.

A clear mask covered Keith's mouth and nose, hissing and pumping air into his lungs. The scratches on his arms were bound with white gauze and there was an IV placed in the back of his hand. His sweaty bangs were pushed to either side slightly for a small black strip that displayed data in blue and red. And his skin and nails and eyes were still shifting, neither human nor Galra side becoming solid even for a nanosecond, patches of purple appearing then disappearing across his skin in random patterns.

Red noticed their entrance through Keith's eyes and made a small, curious noise.

"Hey, Red," Shiro said in a soft voice, trying to approach in a non-threatening manner. Red was the most temperamental of the Lions, and while not easily scared he didn't want to do anything that could send her into flight-or-fight mode. Especially because, with Red, the choice was always 'fight'. "How are you?"

Red shrugged Keith's shoulders.

"Can Keith hear us right now? Does he have any idea about what is happening?" Caelum asked.

Red shook Keith's head.

Safe. Resting.

Pidge felt goosebumps raise on their arms as Green passed along the message from Red.

"You sent us the dreams, didn't you Red?" Pidge asked. "The dreams about the hot, dark place?"

"Oh, man, you guys got that too?" Hunk asked. "And your Lion…?"

"Woke me up, yeah," Lance said softly, his thumb gently rubbing the backs of Keith's fingers. "He couldn't breathe… If we hadn't been there, if Red hadn't taken over…"

A collective shudder went through the room.

Allura stepped over to put her hand on Lance's shoulder. "Let's not think about that right now." She said. She looked over at Coran. "Do we have any idea what is wrong with Keith?"

"None so far," Coran said. "Running diagnostics now on his blood, and have already completed a full body scan."

Coran brought up a holographic-panel and tapped on it, bringing up a display showing the silhouette of a body. Keith's body.

"His bronchi are practically swollen shut," Coran said, focusing the scan on Keith's lungs. "Which is why he struggled to breathe on his own. But that's not all. Visual examination of his skin shows signs of irritation and rashes, while the scans show inflammation in his dermal nerve endings."

"So, his skin was itchy and extremely painful," Hunk summarized.

"No wonder he was tearing at his own skin," Pidge said. Like his Lion, Keith's response was always to fight, but it was even harder to take flight when you were trapped in your own pain-filled body.

"Have you ever seen anything like this before?" Shiro asked, folding his arms over his chest, frowning at the display and the representation of Keith that was on it.

"No," Coran said, shaking his head. "However… I am predominately having the computer system search Galra medical journals and other sources of information."

"Because of his shifting?" Tali asked.

"But I thought Keith's shifts were brought on by anger," Lani added, frowning.

"Maybe it's not anger," Pidge suggested. "Maybe it's just strong emotions. I mean, if you can't breathe and your skin feels like it's on fire, you freak out. Emotions like fear can be particularly strong when you're physically weak and out of control."

"I think strong emotions are only one part of this, Number Five," Coran said. "But I think there's something else to consider, other factors at play. Specifically, the dual nature of human and Galra won't let his body pick a side in order to heal."

"What do you mean, pick a side?" Caelum asked.

"Yeah, Keith's only got one body. The two species of DNA he has should either have blended together or not at all," Shinji pointed out. "And if it was the latter, Keith might not have even been born."

"Whatever this is, it's attacking the Galra part of his DNA," Coran explained. "Problem with that is, the Galra part is not the stronger side."

"Not the stronger side?" Lance repeated, looking and sounding incredulous. "Um, I'm not sure how much the Galra have evolved in ten thousand years, but I'm pretty sure the Galra side of him is the physically stronger side."

"Oh," Allura whispered, her eyes widening, looking over her shoulder at Keith's body, Red meeting her gaze unflinchingly. "I think I understand now… He's a runt."

Red apparently did not like that word and growled slightly at her.

"Don't get mad at me!" Allura chastised. "It's the technical term, and you know it!"

"And she's correct," Coran pointed out. "So don't get your tail in a twist over it."

Red continued to growl until Keith's body fell into a coughing fit, and Lani and Lance both rushed to pat him on the back.

"I'm sorry, what do you mean by runt?" Tali asked, brow knitting together.

"Is Keith considered tall for a human male of his age, is he? Or at the right weight?" Coran asked, already flicking through the medical files that had been uploaded to the Castle from the Galaxy Garrison before they left Earth.

"Weight, not really. Height is a little more difficult," Shiro said. "That's a little more subjective to racial background and genetics and health and hormones, that sort of thing. Why?"

"Because we can know for certain that Keith is not the height nor weight of the average male Galra at the equivalent life stage." Coran said. "Thus, he is weaker in comparison. Therefore, a runt. Strong for a human and strong in general, yes, but not as a Galra. His human side is stronger, more dominant."

"Actually, that makes a lot of sense," Hunk said. "Because if Keith's human side is the dominant part of his genetic make-up, and something is attacking the weaker side—the Galra side—which means that his immune system doesn't know how to fight the problem as a human."

"And apparently doesn't want to relinquish control to the non-dominate side," Caelum added, frowning. "I've heard of a few cases like this in bi-species persons. However, they do not typically undergo shifting like Keith is currently experiencing. Their genetics provide a more equal split in appearance."

"So then if it's affecting the Galra side, then he'll need to fight it as a Galra," Shiro summarized. "But is there anything we can do to make that happen?"

"More importantly, what exactly is 'it' that Keith's immune system is trying to fight off?" Tali asked.

As if answering her question, the computer beeped.

"I think we're about to find out," Coran said. A few seconds later, they all frowned at the results.

"An allergic reaction?" Pidge exclaimed. "To what?"

Coran pressed a few more panels and a picture of small white flowers with purple leaves appeared on the screen.

"What are those?" Hunk asked.

"They're Tealehum flowers," Coran said, frowning. "But they are only native to one region of one planet, Alhivra, and we have been nowhere near that system."

Caelum sucked in a breath. "Of course… That's why Keith's Galra side is reacting." He took a step forward and pointed at the small flowers. "No one is sure why or how, but this particular plant is toxic to certain species. Most notably, the Galra."

"No," Allura said, shaking her head, frowning. "I remember those flowers, Ryla loved the tea made from the Tealehum."

"She fell in love with that tea on a diplomatic mission to Alhivra," Coran added. "She was full-blooded Galra and suffered no ill consequences."

Red purred in agreement.

"The flowers adapted or changed somehow in the last ten thousand years," Caelum explained. "It's a popular tea in many parts of the universe. The Galra Empire only tolerates the flowers' growth because, since it's such a rare commodity by being able to grow in one small portion of one planet, that means that they can tax the plantation owners heavier as well as have high tariffs for those importing the tea. Also, because they are toxic enough to invoke an allergic reaction like Keith's, but not kill."

"But those stupid flowers almost did kill him!" Lance growled. "He went into anaphylactic shock!"

"Because Keith's body knew something was wrong but didn't know how to address it," Shiro said. "Alright, so now that we know the cause, what can we do to help him?"

"I'm going to adjust our search parameters, see what we can find out," Coran said.

"Even if we find a solution that's here in the Castle that can be administered right away, we still have a problem," Shinji pointed out.

"You are correct," Allura said, frowning. "Keith's shifting… The solution might not work while in human form, but we can't get either form to stay steady."

"Good news is, there is something and that it is readily available," Coran said, putting in commands into the computer. "One round of antihistamines, coming right up!"

"Great," Lance said as a small vial slowly rose out of a panel. "So we know what the problem is and what the solution is, but have no way to get to the solution."

Red frowned slightly then Keith's violet eyes widened. Red moved Keith's hand—the one Lance was clutching. Using Keith's free hand, Red pressed Lance's hand down onto Keith's knee.

"Uh…" Lance frowned. "Red, what exactly is this supposed to—"

Take your place.

Lance, Shiro, Pidge and Hunk all jolted at the voices, the sounds of their Lions in their heads.

"What's wrong?" Tali asked. "What happened?"

"Take my…" Hunk mumbled, pressing the palm of his hand against his forehead and rubbing slightly, sending his hair askew. "What does that…?" Then his eyes widened. "Oh…" He took a step forward and placed his hand on Keith's left knee, looking Red in the eye as he did so. "Like that?"

Red nodded vigorously.

" 'Place'… It's our positions in Voltron!" Hunk said, looking over his shoulder at Pidge and Shiro. "Lance is right leg, I'm left leg…"

"I'm left arm," Pidge said, rushing over to wrap their hand around Keith's wrist, careful of the IV.

"And Black forms the head," Shiro said, coming over to place his flesh hand on top of Keith's head.

"A quintessence transfer," Allura whispered. "Of course."

Suddenly, all four of the Paladins' hands began to glow with quintessence, five pairs of eyes closing.

The others watched with bated breath as lavender spread out over Keith's skin, the splotches converging; his hair began to turn from black to dark purple at the roots before cascading down. His fingers and ears stopped shifting back and forth and stayed purely Galra.

Once the transformation was complete, Shiro, Lance, Hunk and Pidge's hands stopped glowing and they opened their eyes, their hands lingering.

To everyone's surprise, Keith's eyes opened, a dull yellow glow casting a gaze around the room, blinking slowly, brow furrowing slightly.

"Hey, buddy," Shiro said softly, gently stroking Keith's hair. "Welcome back."

Keith didn't say anything, just continued to blink slowly, his breathing suddenly less steady and more wheezy.

"Alright, let's get this medicine in you," Coran said, preparing a syringe.

"Can it go into his IV?" Pidge asked, keeping their voice low. Beneath their hand, they felt Keith's muscles tighten, and Pidge quickly turned to Keith. "Whoa, Keith, you need to relax, you've got a needle in your hand and if you keep doing that it's not going to be good. It's going to hurt for starters."

Pidge's words had the opposite effect on Keith, as his eyes widened and he tried to shake off Pidge's hands, rapidly flicking his hand, like he was trying to get rid of an insect or something.

There was a lot of noise and scrambling to pin his arm down, everyone calling out some variation of "No!" and "Don't do that!".

Shiro, who still had his hand on Keith's head, suddenly started moving his fingers against Keith's scalp, gently scratching and massaging. Keith stopped struggling, his ears twitched slightly, then his whole body lost tension and relaxed against the bed.

"Uh, Shiro?" Tali said slowly as Hunk and Pidge let go of Keith. "What are you doing?"

Shiro looked at her, looked down at his hand, then up at Tali again. "I have no idea, but it's working so I'm not complaining."

"Let's get that medicine in him now," Allura said.

"Wait half a tick," Lance said, grabbing Keith's right hand, gently starting to massage each finger and joint as he spoke to Keith. "Hey, Keith, do you know where you are right now?"

Keith blinked slowly, glanced around again, then nodded.

"Awesome. Coran has some medicine that's going to help you breathe better, but we need you to relax and not fight us, okay? You know none of us are going to do anything to hurt you, right?"

Keith hesitated, but nodded, extending out his hand with the IV. He closed his eyes as Coran administered the medicine, and within moments he was sound asleep.

"What was that about, Lance?" Shiro asked, his hand still on Keith's head, now afraid of waking or disturbing Keith if he moved.

"Keith didn't seem all there when he woke up," Lance explained. "Thought maybe it would help to get him to remember he was safe, since his first instinct was to try and fight."

"Good call," Shiro said with a nod.

"So," Lani said softly. "Now what?"

"Now we wait, and we all try to rest," Coran said.

That was easier said than done, as they were all still shaken from the night's events.

The pillows and blankets they had stashed for camping out in front of the healing pods were dragged out, and everyone did their best to get comfortable. The first time Shiro tried to move his hand, Keith let out a noise that was some mixture of a grunt, a growl and a whimper.

"Only problem is," Shiro said sheepishly. "Is that my hand is starting to cramp up."

Tali volunteered to take his place. "This is the Keith equivalent of a cat falling asleep in your lap," She observed as they made the swap.

"Galra Keith is giant cat, confirmed," Hunk said solemnly with a nod.

Pidge dragged a blanket over to where Allura had set herself up. "Mind if I join you over here?"

"Of course you may," Allura said as they both settled down on the pillows. Allura dropped her voice to a whisper, frowning slightly. "Is something bothering you, Pidge?"

"I'm worried about Keith," Pidge whispered.

"We all are. But it appears the medicine is taking affect."

"No, I mean," Pidge sighed. "Allura, what we did, what Red told us to do… Keith's currently in his Galra form. But what if he stays that way? Forever?"

Allura frowned. "I had not thought of that…" She glanced over at Keith. "If this is permanent… Things just became a lot more difficult."

"You're talking about diplomacy and Voltron," Pidge pointed out. "And you're not wrong. But that's not what I'm worried about."

"Then what is?"

"Keith didn't get a say in this," Pidge whispered. "If we changed him, permanently… Allura, you remember what he was like right after we first figured out he was Galra."

"Yes, there is still a rather large dent in the dining room wall," Allura said musingly, remembering the incident that involved another instance of Keith's fight-or-flight tendencies, this time resulting in him throwing a plate at the wall both in anger and as a diversion to run away.

"And then he locked himself in his room, cutting himself off from everyone," Pidge reminded. "Just because Red will let Lance fly her, and Blue will let you fly her, doesn't mean we can let that happen again." They sank against the pillows. "And he's just started to really come to terms with his Galra form, too…"

Allura reached over and gently placed her hand on top of Pidge's. "A worry for tomorrow. Our biggest concern this evening was Keith's physical welfare, and saving his life. We can worry about the mental and physical appearance aspects in the morning."

Pidge sighed, but nodded. They pulled the blanket over themself and fell asleep, silently hoping and praying that Keith wouldn't hate them all in the morning.