I have learnt to celebrate the smaller wins in my life and I was able to finish this chapter in between work and work is going great too! I have a great, supportive team who have been super helpful about everything. That said, Keith was so fun to write in this chapter, like I had a blast. I think this story and 'Tainted Love' has given me the encouragement I need to continue some of my other stories for myself. Thank you to all my silent readers for your support – I know reviews can be hard so I appreciate you taking the time to show your support through kudos, thank you so much.

2. Mark of a Leader

Keith could tell something was wrong. As he came out of the Galran ship with Krolia and Allura stepped out of Blue, the look on her face was one he was not used to seeing on the princess's face. Why was she all alone though? Where were the others? Had they been harmed? His heart raced at the thought. No, Shiro would not have let that happen, no matter what. He would have protected the others. If he had, then why was she here alone? And she barely looked like she was focused enough as it is. This was not like Allura. She was confident, maybe a little too stubborn at times and very focused on the mission to stop the Galran empire. Then, what had happened? What had changed?

"Allura?" Keith asked again, realising she hadn't answered him and even this time, she jumped a little when he called her name, so he quickly raised his hands, keeping them far away from his weapon to try and calm her down. "It's okay. Whatever happened, you're away from there."

"Keith," Krolia said causing his eyes to move to his mother, something he was still trying to wrap his head around even now, but she had protected him, and he did feel some kind of connection with her at least. She shook her head at him right now though. "You might not like what you hear."

What did that mean? Had something really bad happened to the others? How would Krolia know though? Maybe the Blades had told her something and he hadn't been tuning in. Some friend he was to miss something important about the Paladins. Then again, leaving them hadn't been the sign of a good friend either but they were better off with Shiro. Everyone was always better off with Shiro.

"What do you mean?" Keith asked. "Have you heard something from the Blades?" He needed to focus on finding out information, about why Allura was like this and not get stuck in his own head.

"No, but being with the Blades, there's a lot we have to deal with and see every day, especially as a woman," Krolia said simply. "Look at her carefully. Her arms are wrapped around herself, and she keeps rubbing them as well as shivering and looking around. She may have escaped something big and something very personal…like sexual abuse."

Keith's blood turned cold at that, and his heart sunk. They were in a war and bad things happening were unavoidable, really and he knew that. He knew they could hurt – he knew they could get injured but at the same time, the thought of Allura going through that raised so many more questions than he knew how to answer. He didn't want to push her – she seemed to have been through enough especially if something like that had happened, but he also needed to know. Shiro may be the leader of Voltron right, but the Paladins were still his team. Black was still his friend too, so he needed to know.

He walked over to Allura but didn't take her hand or get any closer. If Krolia was right, she might not like the idea of being touched right now.

"Allura," Keith said, a little louder than he had been before, and she turned to look at him. Despite his resolve to get information, his expression crumbled a bit, seeing how unfocused her eyes seemed. "What happened?" Well, that was blunt. He had always been awkward, but he wished at this moment, he could be more consoling like Shiro would have been.

Allura stared at him for a moment, and he wondered if she hadn't heard what he had asked her. He was about to repeat the question when she spoke.

"If I told you, would you believe me even if all the proof points against me right now?" Allura asked him.

"Yeah," Keith said, without having to really think about it. But seeing how Allura looked right now, there was no question about it that whatever she had been through was the truth. Even if she didn't look like this, he knew what it was like to be called a liar. Shiro had been the first person to believe in him even when everyone else said he wasn't speaking the truth or that he was just trying to get attention or cause trouble. He wouldn't do that to someone else.

"We helped Lotor win at the Kral Zera," Allura said softly. "Shiro was insistent even though the rest of us didn't entirely agree with him, but he took Black and left because Lotor said pretending to surrender the Black Lion to the Galra would be a good way to win trust."

Keith remembered that mission – it had been confusing to see Shiro there as well as Black, but he had not been able to figure out why. Using Black as bait against the Galra to please Lotor – how could Shiro even think of something like that? His brother had been acting a bit strange even whilst he had been there, but it had just seemed like trauma from being recaptured by Haggar. Now, he wasn't so sure. His brother knew what Black had been through – how the Galra viewed her and to use her like that.

"I remember that," Keith said softly. "We were supposed to sabotage that by planting bombs, but I tried to disable them when I saw Shiro was there. Until you guys came to help, at least."

Allura nodded slowly. "That was the start of our alliance with Lotor. He took us to one of his bases. We all separated, and he led me to Haggar's room where all her files were kept. He wanted me to use my Altean energy to find out more about quintessence and how we could use it to build a peaceful alliance. Even though Shiro trusts him, I didn't entirely so I made to leave, saying we should consult with the others first on how to proceed. He grabbed my hand and when I still wanted to leave, he tightened his grip. His Galra strength gave him an advantage…but I could have pushed him away if I had summoned my bayard. I just was uncertain on whether it was right."

A strange knot tied itself in his stomach and for a moment, Keith wished Lotor was in front of him so he could punch him. That was odd – he did still get annoyed easily, but it had been a long time since he had felt the urge to sock someone in the face. Still, he swallowed it and simply nodded, wanting to show her he was listening to each and every word she was saying.

"I was planning to reason with him more, for the sake of our alliance," Allura admitted to him. "But…his hands…they…" Her voice broke here, and she fumbled for a moment, beginning to shiver.

"It's okay, Allura," Keith said quietly. "Whatever he did isn't your fault. He took advantage of the situation. I promise it's not your fault." Words had always felt hollow but after learning what had happened and being able to guess where this might be going, he just couldn't stick to simply learning the facts. This was his fault. He was responsible for this. He had left them vulnerable. He may have left Shiro vulnerable too. What if something was controlling him and instead of staying to figure it out, he had let whoever was controlling his brother to push him out?

"His hands moved towards my Paladin belt," Allura managed to get out. "I didn't mean to, but I just reacted instinctively and pushed back. It knocked him out and then Blue got me out of there. I know I should have told the others but tell them what? They would come in to see Lotor unconscious. I don't even understand what Lotor meant by wanting us to become one."

Keith scowled at that. "I'm going to kill Lotor." His fists had already clenched, and he had to express it for two reasons. He was going to scream if he tried to hold it in and he didn't want Allura to think he was mad at her, so telling her this was the best way to do both. Allura was a princess, so it was natural for people or aliens to be attracted to her, but he had never realised just how innocent she was.

In order to keep him prepared for predators in the real life, Shiro had told him about good touch and bad touch but had not been around to tell him about sex. Probably a good thing – that would have been an awkward conversation to have, especially since he did already know what it was. He just wished someone had told Allura about some of that. Maybe then she wouldn't have been so blindsided by what had happened. Maybe then she would have been able to see Lotor's intentions for her much sooner.

"Keith, we have to be careful," Krolia cautioned, and Keith jumped, having been so focused on Allura that he had almost forgotten about his mother. Allura slowly turned to look at her too, as if having just realised that she was there.

"Allura, this is my mother, Krolia," Keith introduced, fists slowly unclenching. "She's also a member of the Blade of Marmora."

Allura nodded at this. "Nice to meet you." Her voice was still a bit absent, but her arms had fallen to her sides and she looked a little less uncomfortable than before.

"Pleasure," Krolia said holding out her hand and Allura reached out slowly to shake it. "Why don't you stay with us for a bit, and we can figure out what to do next later?"

"I know what I want to do," Keith grumbled, still furious at Lotor for creating such a situation. "I want to kill Lotor." He sighed, knowing he was going to have to be more mature than that though. His team was still with Lotor right now and from what Allura had said, Shiro trusted him. If Shiro was even himself at this point – it was a role he had struggled to take at first, but Keith knew if he wanted to find out the truth, he was going to have to step up. Step up as the leader of Voltron in order to protect Allura from Lotor, to protect them all really but Allura came first. He realised Allura was watching him – that she hadn't answered his mother and exhaled. Even now, she considered him the leader of Voltron even though he had not acted as it.

"Krolia's right," he finally said. "Stay with me. I'll figure things out. I believe you and I'll help the others believe you too." He didn't need to see any evidence – Allura didn't lie, and she wouldn't lie about something like this. Seeing her visibly relax a little brought a small smile to his face. Even though he had no idea how he was going to go about things, at least he had managed to reassure her a little.