Keith couldn't have been happier to leave Velka when they did. Razkha… just the fact that she existed raised too many questions that he didn't want to think about. But he couldn't stop thinking about them. Razkha wasn't just some outlier. When he looked at the streets of Velka, he could spot dozens of people like her.

People born of Galra and Velka unions. He could even see Galras proudly walking with their Velka friends and families without anyone looking at them twice.

Why wasn't anyone saying anything?! Didn't they know what the Galra had done?! How could they explain away the atrocities the empire had committed? How…?

The thought got a bitter laugh out of Keith.

How? He knew how. Back on Earth his own government had taken part in military operations across the world for… questionable reasons. Sometimes their motives could even be sinister, and everyone had known but… everyone had just shrugged and gone on with their day. Sure. People somewhere far away might have been suffering and dying but it wasn't their fault. It wasn't their problem. So… they just didn't think about it. He'd done it too.

When they got back to the Castle everyone was there to greet them and Hunk had even prepared a feast to welcome them. Allura was smiling but her eyes were full of disappointment. They had wasted more time to find a dead ally. Still, she smiled and didn't make a big deal about it.

"Welcome back." Allura said.

"It's good to be back." Shiro said.

They left for the mess hall where Hunk had set the table. Keith had had his doubts about traditional Balmeran cooking but Hunk could do wonders with rocks.

"This is the best part of every mission." Hunk said while filling everyone's plates: "I love coming home and eating with everyone."

"I love coming…" Lance said and took a sip of water.

The mess hall fell quiet and everyone stared Lance as he drank and let the maximum amount of awkward silence build up. Only Hunk seemed more bemused then annoyed.

"… Home and eating with everyone." Lance continued after finishing his drink.

"Gross." Pidge said.

Allura rubbed her eyes. Shiro smiled like a father who had just found his child drawing on the wall. Coran caressed his moustache thoughtfully. Only Hunk laughed.

"Lance… I don't think I like the side you bring out of Hunk. Why are you two friends again?" Pidge said.

"I was always getting beaten up as a kid for some reason. Hunk was the only one to step in." Lance said.

"We still haven't figured out why." Hunk said with an amused smile.

"I know right? My face is a national treasure. How could anyone want to beat up me?" Lance said.

"I can think of a few reasons." Pidge said.

"Good thing that not everyone is as smart as you." Lance said dug in: "Dude, you made the shit out of these rocks."

"Thank you, Lance. Your gratitude makes it all worth it." Hunk said.

"Was that sarcasm? It sounded like sarcasm." Lance said.

Hunk just smiled.

"I bet your new girlfriend would love these." Lance said and looked at his plate: "Is eating rocks technically speaking cannibalism for Balmerans?"

"She's not my girlfriend!" Hunk said bashfully: "She's just a rock I respect very much."

"I know the feeling. I could never date someone I respect either." Lance said.

Lance and Hunk laughed. No one else did. Pidge was finding new ways to express contempt with a single glare while Shiro was counting how long it would take until he could send his children to college and get them out of his hair.

For a moment Keith forgot about Velka and stared at his food annoyed.

Lance never laughed like that with him. Or joked like that. Why didn't he? Weren't they friends? He thought… hoped they were. He'd never… really had friends. Lance was his… first friend. Not a colleague or an acquittance but a real friend but to Lance… he was just one of his friends. Hunk was Lance's best friend. He was no one special to Lance.

The thought hurt.

Coran rubbed his moustache.

"A politician on planet Orr made a joke like that once. The war lasted for three generations." Coran said.

"It made them an easy picking for the Galra." Allura added.

"Lance, tone it down." Shiro said.

Keith kept poking at his food. Coran glanced at him.

"Are you suffering from space nausea? If you want, I can make you a traditional Altean nausea remedy."

"Don't do it, man. The stuff makes me nauseous." Lance said.

"That's how you know it works." Coran said.

"I was just thinking…" Keith said.

"About what?" Pidge said.

"I… it's nothing." Keith lied.

"Doesn't sound like nothing." Shiro said.

Keith looked at Lance. His usual smirk was gone, and his eyes were guarded.

"What… are we going to do with the Galra if we win?" Keith said.

"When we win." Allura said.

"I… yeah. When we win." Keith said.

Allura's regal mask was up but she had an uneasy look.

"Once Zarkon has been dealt with, we'll drive the Galra away from the planets they've conquered."

"What if they don't want to leave?" Keith said.

Allura's face hardened and there was the kind of coldness to her eyes that you could only get from losing your planet. Your home. Your people.

"I don't care what they want."

"Maybe we should. Many of them have lived on those planets for generations. They've made homes there." Keith said.

"Those planets have been occupied for generations." Allura said.

"Many of them have family there. What will we do about them? Razkha's mother was Galra but her father was Velkan."

The mess hall fell quiet. They were all looking at him.

"Keith, who's Razkha?" Shiro said.

Suddenly Allura looked very tired. And very, very angry.

"Forgive me if I don't have the energy to consider the feelings of genocidal monsters."

"If…" Lance said and took a deep breath: "If we're holding people responsible for their culture's crimes, we'd all be shot."

Allura half rose from her seat.

"Are you siding with the Galra?!"

"No! Of course not, but… not every Galra is Zarkon." Lance said.

Pidge, Hunk, Coran… they all looked nervous. Scared. Shiro just watched and listened with an unreadable expression.

"If they had done the right thing, Zarkon would never have… been able to do what he did." Allura said.

She didn't shout. She didn't need to. Not with all that cold fury in her voice.

"What should we do then? Blow up the Galras' home planet to make it fair?" Keith asked.

"If I could, I would!"

A painful silence fell in the mess hall immediately. No one looked more horrified than Allura. Horrified and lost. Lance tapped the table nervously and cleared his throat.

"Princess…" Lance said quietly: "Nothing good has ever come out of treating people as things. Zarkon has to be stopped but… I won't help you get even with him. I don't even want to know what that would mean. I won't let you use Blue for that either."

Allura didn't even have the strength to look at them.

"That would have been considered treason once upon a time." Allura whispered.

She stood up like an old woman.

"Thank you for the meal, Hunk, but… I'm not really hungry right now."

She walked away dragging her feet. Coran stared at his food.

"She… she didn't mean that."

Shiro shook his head.

"Coran, you don't need to explain. None of us can even begin to understand your pain. She has every right to be angry. We won't judge her for it. We know her." Shiro said and took a bite of his food: "This is excellent, Hunk. You outdid yourself."

"… thank you." Hunk said unenthusiastically.

Shiro smiled and then turned to look at him and Lance.

"So… who's Razkha?"

"A cadet at the Galra military academy on Velka. We were trying to get some intel out of her." Lance said without looking at him.

"Did you find anything I should know about?" Shiro said.

Lance shivered.

"… no."

"Okay. I won't push it. Let me know when you're ready to talk." Shiro said.

A painful dinner followed. Lance didn't look hungry but forced himself to eat for Hunk's sake. Keith couldn't do even that much. They all wandered off without looking at each other after cleaning the table. After a quick shower Keith stumbled into bed and tried to sleep but couldn't. He hadn't had a wink of sleep after meeting Razkha but he couldn't escape his own thoughts.

Just a few days ago it had all seemed so simple.

Zarkon was evil. They were trying to stop him from hurting innocent people. It was simple so far but… what came after the evil overlord was dealt with? Voltron was the most powerful weapon in existence, but he was afraid that this was a problem too big even for Voltron. They wielded so much power as paladins. Would they be able to wield it responsibly? What if… they became another Zarkon without even noticing?

There was a knock on the door. When he opened it, Lance grinned at him in his paladin gear.

"Suit up. Let's go for a ride."

"Why?" Keith said.

"Because I want to do something fun after that disaster. You should try having fun sometimes. You might surprise yourself and like it."

"Lance…"

"Fine. The Lions aren't for joyrides. Think of it as… training. We should get to know the other Lions in case… something happens to one of us."

Keith was quiet and then smiled.

"Okay. Red or Blue?"

"Blue. Wouldn't want her to get jealous."

Lance waited in the hallway while Keith got dressed. They walked to the hangar together.

"Thanks." Keith said.

"For what?" Lance asked.

"For having my back."

When they approached the Lions, the Blue Lion bowed its head to let them in. Keith couldn't quite explain it, but the Blue Lion had always struck him as the most welcoming of the pride. Even the atmosphere inside the cockpit was different from Red's. It was… warmer somehow. Softer.

"Where we off to?" Keith said.

"I don't know." Lance said and grinned: "Let's find out. Hey Blue. Can you play the wingman for me?"

In response Blue powered up and blasted out of the hangar on it own.

"That's my girl." Lance said.

"I hope we don't get in trouble for this." Keith said.

"Don't worry. I cleared it up with Coran. It's good to be the boss's favorite." Lance said.

The Lions had been built for travel between planets and soon the Castle was nothing more than a distant memory. The monitors large as windows gave them a clear view to the vast space outside. It could be overwhelming realizing how small and insignificant you were. Less than a speck of dust but it was also comforting. Here it felt like none of his problems and anxieties mattered. The stars forgave everything.

"It's big. You'd have to be crazy to want to take it over." Lance said.

"Zarkon doesn't seem to be playing with a full deck." Keith said.

"Yeah. Why else would he try to take over something infinite that keeps expanding?"

"I think Hawking wrote that space doesn't actually expand." Keith said.

"Wait, wait, wait." Lance said confused: "Didn't he say it does?"

"He might have changed his mind. It's been a while since I read his stuff."

"You actually read it?"

"And you didn't? It was mandatory reading at the garrison." Keith said.

"I skimmed it." Lance said sounding a bit guilty.

They stared outside in silence. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence but a comforting one. Some moment didn't need words… but Lance decided to speak anyway.

"Peaceful, isn't it? But… I wouldn't want to be trapped here. Just drifting here. If the Galra shoot me down, I hope I don't have time to even notice."

"Lance?"

Lance didn't seem to hear him.

"The alternative is just… so much worse. Drifting away helplessly. Counting when you run out of food, water… and oxygen. You've probably taken out the cyanide pill but… you don't bite. Because you hope… against all hope that someone will pick up your distress signal. That you'll see your wife and niece again. But no one ever comes… and you die. Alone. Scared. Suffocating."

Lance didn't look at him, but Keith could see his face reflected off the monitors. It hurt. Seeing him looking like that.

"Lance… if it had been you, do you think Alsa's uncle would have spared you a second thought?"

"Guess we'll never know. He's dead." Lance said and closed his eyes: "It scares me, Keith. So much that I can't sleep. I'm scared that we get into another fight and I'll have to kill someone else's uncle. Or aunt. Or someone's son. Or daughter. Or father. Or mother."

Keith shuddered. The blink of an eye could be an eternity in combat. If Lance hesitated even for a heartbeat because he didn't see an enemy at the other side of the gun but an uncle… Or an aunt. Or a son. Or a daughter. Or a father. Or a mother. A person with history and family. If that happened… Hesitation would kill him.

"Lance… promise me. If it ever comes down to you or some Galra soldier… promise me, you'll fight. Promise me you'll come back."

"Only if you promise to come back too. Even if it means running. I'd rather have you be a living coward than a dead hero."

Keith smiled.

"I promise."

They sat in silence… until they saw it. Even with the monitors toning down the brightness and Blue keeping its distance, it hurt to look at… and even then, he couldn't look away. Some sights were worth risking blindness.

It was… a dragon.

It was the only thing he could compare it to. Its scales shone like a mosaic of stars as it flew through space. It was so beautiful and humbling. It could have crushed the castle of lions and never even notice. Something that colossal could only live in space. In gravity it would be crushed under its own weight. Here it could coil around a planet.

Lance was half out of his seat and the light had brought tears to his eyes.

"… what… what is that?"

As if he'd been summoned Coran's face filled one of the screens.

"You two are in luck. That's a comet wyrm. It was a symbol of good luck in Altea and worshipped as a god in multiple other planets. It travels through the cosmos looking for barren planets."

"And… what happens when it finds one?" Keith asked.

"It rests and dies, and its scales will birth new life on a dead planet." Coran said.

Coran invited everyone in the Castle to see the wyrm for themselves. They stared at the symbol of good luck as it shone in the darkness. Like him and Lance, Allura forgot her worries for a moment. Keith didn't even realize he was holding Lance's hand and when he did, neither of them cared. Lance gripped his fingers harder.

The moment felt like it lasted for an eternity, but it was over too soon. They sat back and laughed. All of them. Keith had never laughed like that after his father's death. For the first time in a long time he felt like he… belonged. Like he was home.

"Blue... thanks for showing us this." Lance said.

After telling Coran that they would be gone for a bit longer, Lance turned off the monitor. He leaned back in his chair.

"I think… I'll take a nap." Lance said.

"Yeah. Me too." Keith said.

Lance told Blue to take them home the long route. They fell asleep side by side and dreamt of the stars.


If you enjoyed this chapter, why not join us at Discord?

discord . gg / JJdkzp5KVT