Chapter 26:Opening Up a Little Bit(Keith's POV)

The two days after the party, Keith still felt awkward aroundMarinette's parents. Especially since he was somewhat to blame for Marinette's disappearance(which never really occurred to him until they held that party two days ago).

He felt pretty bad about hiding the truth from them instead of saying, "Hey me and your daughter switched places and now she's fighting aliens in a gigantic robot ship Red lion with other robot lion ships and she might die while doing so!"

Couldn't exactly say that, because Keith has no idea how it happened, and it would raise a lot of questions he'd have to answer that he didn't really feel like answering right now.

Besides, they wouldn't believe him anyway.

Because aliens are made up and just exist is fiction. Like Star Wars or Star Trek or Cowboys and Aliens to name a few. And most of those aliens are hostile, so they'd probably think Coran and Allura, if they believe him, are just as bad as the Galra. Which they are not.

Allura can be scary sometimes, but she's not evil. And Coran is just, Coran.

He really didn't have an explanation for why Coran acted certain ways. So best not to explain it. If anything Coran tries to act funny, but fails. But Coran can also…..

"Earth to Keith, earth to Keith," whispers Chloe into his ear which makes Keith jump.

"Blondie! Hi," he says.

"Why are you in La la land?" she asks Keith.

He sighs, "Just thinking about Marinette and where she ran off to."

"Why?"

"Because Adrien is more down after that party." Which is half-true. Adrien has been feeling down, even though he went to fencing practice. Even though Keith could tell he didn't really want to. Keith drums his fingers on his science textbook while Chloe replies, "Is that why he didn't come yesterday after school to our study session for tomorrow's exam?"

"Probably," Keith simply says, not really wanting to dive into the matter of Marinette's disappearance, or Adrien's aching heart(but seriously, how can the idiot not recognize that he is, in fact, in love with Marinette).

"Huh," was all Chloe said in reply. "How's your foot doing?"

"Still a pain. You don't have to take time off work just because I can't."

Chloe folds her arms and blushes, "Well, you can't be alone in that huge mansion practicing piano the whole time while your foot heals Raven."

He simply smiles, still not wanting to talk about anything, really. It's been hard not helping Chloe and Chat face off akumas, because his ankle has to heal.

And not doing the one thing he's come to love, fencing. It's the only thing, besides Chloe, that makes living in Paris easier. Because then Keith can forget that Marinette's in his place, fighting a bigger war than him and that she might be killed.

And it helps him to not miss team Voltron.

"I give up! Something is clearly bugging you so spit it out already!"

Keith relents, but decides to tell her a half truth, "I miss my brother and my dad." That isn't a lie, Shiro is like a brother to him, and he does miss his father. But it doesn't involve him being half galra or not, or the war against the Galrans and that aliens exist.

Chloe's eyes widen, and she doesn't know what to say. At least the silence between them makes it seem that way.

"What was your father and brother like?" she asks, heastiant.

"My mom abandoned me and my father shortly after I was born. So I often felt undeserving of friendship, and love. Which made me push people away. The only one I didn't was my father. As such I would get into fights….." His voice fades as he is dragged back into a memory.

His dad had just passed away. People at school were being polite when they heard about what had happened. That his dad had died trying to save others as the firefighter he was.

People tried to talk to him, but after losing his father, Keith, only pushed them away more, and ignored them. Feeling undeserving of their love, his dad died, and his mother abandoned him.

He wouldn't let his heart be hurt again.

"Hey Keith." some boys called. He ignored them as always, but this time the boys didn't ignore him.

"What's the matter Keith? Aren't you going to need friends since your father died?" sneered a light brown haired boy in the trio that was stopping him from going to the Orphanage.

"I don't need friends," Keith replied, coldy. Friends and family always leave in the end anyway. Hurting you.

"You sure? We could offer you protection." said the boy with black short hair, standing right next to the leader(the light browned haired boy).

Keith coldy said, "I am sure."

That's when the boys attacked him. Keith tried to avoid getting as little injuries as possible, but the boys relented on him. It was just another reminder to Keith that no one would ever truly care for you, even if they looked like they did.

Keith pulls out of the memory, it's painful to remember that he had so against people loving him. Especially since he found people who really cared about him.

"Wow, your brother sounds amazing. Being able to give you hope like that when your father couldn't…" Chloe trails off.

So he apparently didn't end his speech while reliving a part of his past. Nice. But still it makes him wonder what is going on with Shiro and the rest of team Voltron. If they're spreading hope just like Keith did to Chloe because she reminded him of his past self. The person who thought no one will love him again.

Author's Note: Thought it was finally time to revisit the Miraculous side of things. This is more slow paced, and more about the characters, because we just did the whole battle with Lotor thing last chapter. And I wanted to show you guys that Keith is still dealing with being away from Team Voltron, even though he hides it pretty well from everyone. Next chapter will feature the Dark Owl akuma and then after that chapter more Voltron dealing with Lotor and his evil, evil plan.