BALMERA AND BONDING

Keith stood in the seemingly empty hall, listening to the pained groans coming from inside the walls; Lance's muscles would be cramping soon, if they weren't already. The boy had crawled into a small dumbwaiter to hide from Coran and realized far too late that the door only opened from the outside. Luckily he was still in full paladin armour and had used his coms to call for help. Help, however, had decided to take their sweet ass time to rescue him. Keith smirked as he casually leaned against a wall and listened to the panic.

It took a total of a varga before he finally opened the door. "Whatcha doin' in there buddy? Hiding from someone? Hmm?" he grinned as the other groaned.

"Just let me out mullet."

"Well that's not very nice! Bad Lance, Bad!" Keith promptly shut the door and Lance nearly screamed.

"KEITH! Let me out!"

"Not until you say you're sorry."

"Fine – sorry! Now let me out dammit!"

"Yeah see, I don't believe you mean that."

"Ughh. Ok fine – I'm sorry I yelled at you! Please will you let me know out now?" Keith hummed and hawed audibly for a few tics before mercifully opening the door once again. Lance awkwardly crawled out of the small space, moaning in pleasure as he stretched his legs.

"Why were you in there?"

"Hiding from Coran."

Keith stared blankly back at the Cuban waiting for him to elaborate but got nothing. After several tics, he dramatically rolled his eyes. "Yeah I got that, but why were you hiding from Coran?"

"Uh – he wants me to clean the pod I was in, and all the other ones too." The boy groaned again and performed some rather impressive stretches. Keith really had no idea Lance was that flexible, maybe he should sit in on more of his training sessions, watch him to - NO! Bad Keith! Ugh being surrounded by the same people every quintant was really starting to take its toll. It had been so long that even Lance was looking desirable. He shuddered slightly and came back to reality as the boy in question entered into 'downward dog' and Keith suavely turned a choke into a cough.

They were forced to perform something called 'Yoga' back at the Garrison and Keith had been exceptionally good at it, his training with the Blades making him abnormally flexible. Not to mention the fact that Galra have incredible balance and agility. Like everything else with the Garrison, they were separated into two classes. He had been in a class with James, Nadia, Ryan, Trevor, and Hunk while Lance had been in a different class. Meaning, this was the first time Keith had seen the boy expertly going through the poses and he if they were rivals in anything; clearly it was this.

He caught himself staring and, without a word, he walked away. "Hey wait! Where are you going?" Lance called but he ignored it, continuing down the hall. "KEITH! Wait …" The sound of his boots hitting the floor echoed off the walls as Lance chased after him, his paladin armour weighing him down. Keith didn't wait.

A whole quintant went by as they continued on their way to the balmera, Hunk growing more and more anxious each passing varga. They entirety of their crew was now gathered on the bridge as the beast came into view on the screens. Allura discussed how the Balmera was alive – which he had already said, that they needed to mindful of its wellbeing – which he had already said, and that it would be a difficult mission – which he had already said! Honestly, Keith was starting to feel like no body actually listened to him around here.

"So, what's the plan? We go in there and just – pow, pow, pow! -" Lance jerked his arms around like a maniac. Actually, it was more like one of those hilarious tube creatures the vehicle distribution centre back in Texas had displayed in the front of their building to draw people in. Keith loved those things, he could watch them dance and flop around for vargas. "- And free the prisoners?"

He looked over at the Blue paladin with the most exasperated look he could manage; hand on his hip, and disinterested boredom in his tone. "What was that noise?"

"Laser guns!" Lance explained, his voice seductive as he anticipated opening fire.

"No, Lance, I think you mean Baow, Baow, Baow … POW!" Hunk had crouched down to one knee and fired his arms as if they were the guns in questions.

"That sounds like fireworks." Lance dismissed him with a wave of the hand.

"Technically, they're more like bachoo, bachoo, bachoo!" Pidge added as they fired a mock handgun.

Shiro scolded them, "Okay, enough with the bad sound effects." and it Keith snicker until the man immediately dropped his 'grown up' act and joined them in their ridiculousness. "Besides, they're more like Blam, Blam, Blam!"

"What?" Keith groaned, arms going wide in disbelief and the others chimed in with their own objections.

"You're crazy" Pidge
"No, way!" Lance
"Wrong." Hunk

Keith rubbed his index and middle fingers against his temples as he rolled his eyes and let out a groan. Allura pulled them back to the severity of the situation they were about to tackle and Hunk talked about the Balmera being alive. Keith tuned them both out – they weren't saying anything he didn't already know anyways. Besides, he was the one to tell Hunk it was alive in the first place!

It wasn't until Allura mentioned the soldiers in the tunnels that he came back to their conversation. "How will we know how many are left down in the tunnels?" He asked.

"We can track the Galra, and the Balmerans, using Biothermal Life Indicator Point Technology." Oh shit. The other paladins were a different species, one that (aside from Matt and Sam) were the only ones of their kind in space. They would show up as a unique mark against the others, but Keith knew his Galra genes were more dominant that his Human ones, he always registered as Galra on scans.

Without missing a beat Allura moved on, explaining that the sensors needed to be dropped into the shafts to perform their scans. She mentioned the suits having sensors built in and Keith breathed a sigh of relief, it was their paladin armour she would be tracking, not their biology.

The fight had gone way too smoothly, each of them completing their tasks with ease and the lack of resistance made him nervous. Sure, the base had fired on them, but no fighter pods emerged, no targeting systems were engaged, and no real resistance was given. It was as if the Empire was surrendering this Balmera except, the Empire never surrenders. Something deep inside him whispered that it was a trap.

He voiced this concern, alerting the rest of the team to the absurdity of the situation. "Where are all the troops? They're not coming to the surface."

"Yeah, I remember seeing a lot of Galra guys down in the mines." It was Hunk that backed him up.

"We've located a hangar full of Galra righters just below the surface. Someone has to take those out before they can launch." Keith was about to object to the Princess' command but Shiro jumped in, sending him and Lance down into the tunnels to close off the hangar. This was a terrible idea. A terrible, terrible idea. Keith's gut was screaming at him as Lance took off in the direction of the mines and, reluctantly, he followed his teammate.

Inside the mines meant leaving the safety of their lions. He led the way to the hangar as Lance followed, their speeders just small enough to manoeuvre the larger tunnels. Once inside the hangar, they crouched behind a relatively large boulder to take stock of their surroundings and discuss the plan of attack. His gut screamed louder as he looked around.

"The entire hangar's only being guarded by a few sentries." This was definitely a trap, but with no soldiers present it would be easy to take out the sentries and tamper with the intake valves on the pods. "Let's go!" He commanded as he drew his bayard. The faster they completed their task, the faster they could get off this quiznaking Balmera.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Cool your jets, Keith!" Lance grabbed his collar and pulled him back, causing him to fall on his ass against a rock. He scowled at the Blue paladin. "Don't you remember that stuff about this Balmera thing being a sensitive animal?"

"Oh, right." Tampering with the intake valve would stop the pods effectively but it would also cause them to explode, further injuring the already dying Balmera. And it was dying. Keith could feel its quintessence draining.

"Yeah, so we can't just blow things up like a psycho."

"You got a better idea?"

"I do. We sneak into the control room to shut down the bay doors. That'll trap the ships in."

"That - " he began to object before it really sank in huh, Lance wasn't just a pretty face after all. " - actually is a better idea."

Sneaking across the beams wasn't overly difficult and they made it to the control room in a few dobashes. Lance whispered rather loudly that he knew where to go but honestly, Keith was done with this mission. His stomach was turning and he just wanted off this stupid Balmera and as far away from what he was 1000% sure was a trap.

"No, no. It's over here." Lance continued, apparently heart set on giving away their element of surprise.

"I know what I'm doing." He whispered back, pulling his bayard again and cutting a hole through the roof of the control room, directly overtop of where he knew the console would be. Lance took the opportunity to jump on the weakened panel and dropped down on top of a sentry, ordering him to keep an eye out for the guards.

For some reason, despite the fact that he had a sword and Lance had the gun, Keith followed the Blue paladin's orders and went to stand by the window. He listened to the confused grumbling behind him, followed by the worrisome beeping, as Lance haphazardly began tapping buttons on the screen.

"I don't know what I'm doing here, it's all Galra gibberish." Lance admitted and Keith rolled his eyes.

"Every language is gibberish if you don't understand it." He condescendingly replied and moved to squat beside him. "Let me see." Keith read over the controls, the buttons Lance had pressed didn't do a thing, his lack of Galra DNA rendering his touch useless on the screen; but not Keith's. He double checked the settings and placed his hand on the print, authorizing the command for the door to close. Immediately it responded to his touch and the hangar began to seal.

"Whoa! How'd you do that?" Lance asked and Keith had a mild panic attack, spitting out the first explanation that came to his head.

"I, just put my hand on the handprint." Admittedly it wasn't a particularly creative excuse, but he shrugged it off and Lance seemed to accept it.

They had just made it out of the hangar and back to the speeder when Shiro commanded them to the core of the Balmera to retrieve Shay, admitting that he too was now believing the whole thing to be a trap. Seriously, why were they insisting on going after this Shay person? They should be leaving with the Balmerans they had and cutting their losses. That's how the Blades worked, that's how you survived!

The Balmera was starting to collapse around them, chunks of 'rock' falling from the tunnel's roof as they went deeper. They ran around corner after corner until finally coming across some resistance. They must be close. He thought as blasts rang out around them, punctuated by a loud moaning sound. The Balmera was in pain.

"Their shooting is destroying the Balmera. We gotta do something." He called out across the tunnel to Lance who was crouching on the other side. The blasts continued firing between them, effectively pinning them down.

"Well, we can't shoot back. It'll just make it worse." Lance looked around and started making a series of weird grunting sounds accompanied by strange hand gestures. Keith stared at him.

He shrugged his shoulders to express his obvious confusion and looked around to see if he could gauge what Lance was failing to communicate. Above the sentries was a series of braces holding the tunnels together, and a ladder lay conveniently behind him. He turned to Lance; ignoring whatever ridiculous plan the boy had come up with, and pointed to the ladder. He would just use that instead.

Keith had barely made it to the top of the brace when Lance burst out into the line of fire, flailing his arms and taunting the sentries. Sentries! They were robots, not soldiers; they couldn't be goaded into a fight, but that didn't stop Lance from trying. Keith face palmed as the sentries took aim on the only available target. He pulled his bayard and jumped, his extensive training kicking into high gear. In the blink of an eye he had taken out his opponents.

They didn't meet any more resistance after that, running into the core of the Balmera in just over a few dobashes. Immediately, the doors sealed behind him. Shay confirmed that is was in fact a trap and Keith's gut yelled 'I told you so' at him. Hunk accused Rolo of ratting them out and – Yeah that was likely. Prorok would have picked them up by now and the location of where the Paladins were headed would have been the only bargaining chip he had left. Keith kinda regretted not just letting their ship crash. Red scolded him and he rolled his eyes, drawing a confused look from Lance.

It hadn't taken that much longer for help to arrive and they rushed to their lions as the Empire forces tried to capture them – again! He could hear Coran and Allura's commentary over the helmet coms and the battle began. They were hopelessly outnumbered, but the Empire was hopelessly outmatched. Keith smirked as he blasted a group of pods with his newly unlocked firepower, and watched Lance encase others in ice. They took out the majority of the opponents before turning their attention to the cruiser attempting to destroy the castle. Shiro ordered them to form Voltron and Keith thought it was over kill. They could take out a single cruiser easily without wasting precious tics merging but hey, forming the giant robot was exhilarating so who was he to complain.

Voltron pushed the ion cannon away from the castle and Allura blasted the cruiser in a magnificently terrifying display of firepower. The castle packed a way bigger punch than he'd first thought. Keith looked out at the carnage and felt a pang of regret. He hadn't notified Kolivan about this mission because he knew there weren't any Blades station here, but that cruiser wasn't supposed to be here either. What if there were Blades on board? He couldn't put this off any longer; Keith knew he needed to tell the princess about the Blade of Marmora so that their members didn't die by Voltron's hand.

Keith lay back on his bed, unable to fall asleep. The whole quintant had been one disaster after another. They had knowingly rushed into a trap, the ensuing Robeast had been too powerful for them to defeat, and they'd all stared their own death in the eyes before the Balmera saved them. He shuddered under the thin blanket.

As a Blade, Keith had made peace with the knowledge that he would most likely die in battle, die with the honour of a soldier. But when actually faced with the very real possibility of death, he had been terrified. He fought alongside his fellow paladins with everything he had, letting the full extent of his Galran blood lust seep through their connection to strengthen the other's wills to fight, but it hadn't been enough. They hadn't been enough. Voltron was supposed to be the most powerful weapon in the universe but Emperor Zarkon had sent a creature that had all but defeated them.

Was the Empire really that strong or were they just not as good as the original paladins? He felt a low rumble in the back of his mind as Red disagreed vehemently with his train of thought. They weren't weak, she'd said, just inexperienced.

He fell asleep to that less than comforting thought.

"And what of the Balmera?"

"The Altean Princess restored it. She used her Alchemy to heal the beast." Keith watched Kolivan's stoic guise, waiting for any signs of emotion, a hit of what the Blade leader was thinking behind his carefully constructed emotionless mask.

"That is promising news. Perhaps the damage caused by the Empire can be healed after all." There was a long moment of silence, Keith had not yet been dismissed and didn't dare disconnect the line until Kolivan gave the order. Besides, there was something else he needed to discuss. "You have done well Blade. That is all."

"Wait, leader. There's one more thing." Kolivan gave a curt nod of approval, silently instructing him to proceed. "The princess knows there are rebels out there fighting against the Empire, but I feel it would be beneficial if she were informed about the Blade of Marmora's existence."

"No."

"But sir, I think we could work together to -"

"No! That is enough." Kolivan cut him off. "You have you're assignment, we will not jeopardize the safety of our organization by working in the open. We have survived this long by keeping to the shadows and that is where we will remain."

Keith gave a curt nod and the line was cut. He sat in his room, alone in the dark, as he stared at the now blank screen of his communicator. He understood, he really did, but something told him that working together was the only way. He wouldn't be the one to go ahead and reveal the Blades if Kolivan forbid it, he wasn't a traitor, but he certainly didn't like having to maintain this lie.

He had talked to Coran, the older man pulling him aside to ask when Keith would tell the others about him being Galra. He had explained that he couldn't tell them without revealing the existence of the rebel organization was a part of, and that he would need to run it by his leader first. Coran had surprisingly agreed with him, and a part of Keith was looking forward to everything being out in the open. But that looked like it wasn't going to happen for a while. Kolivan had rejected his proposal and he couldn't exactly tell the Princess he was a Galra rebel fighter then immediately proceed to say he wasn't allowed to tell her anything. That wouldn't fly.

He groaned and fell backwards on his bed.

"Start training level: 18" He commanded the room and removed his jacket, tossing it off to the side, activating his bayard as the Gladiator dropped from the ceiling. They fought through the level multiple times, Keith ordering the bot to reset each time until he completed the level without receiving a single blow. Approximately a varga had gone by already and he was building up a nice layer of sweat on his skin. When the doors opened, he welcomed the interruption. Back with the Blades he'd always had a penchant for letting his training become all encompassing, spending far more time on the training decks than any of the other operatives, clearly those habits were more ingrained in him than he'd thought.

"Hey, man. We've been looking for you all over the place! How long have you been in here?" Hunk walked in behind Lance as the Cuban boy spoke. Keith merely shrugged, it felt like a varga but who actually knew how much time had really passed. "K cool, well – move night so get your half-alien butt down to the lounge!"

"Half-alien?" He smirked as he rolled his eyes, Lance nodded along. "You do realize that his is an Altean ship right?" No response. "That makes all of us aliens except Allura and Coran." The two boys' eyes shot wide as the though sunk in and Keith snickered. "What movie? They aren't gunna make us all sit through some god awful Altean cinema are they?" He cringed at the thought. Some bits of Altea had survived their destruction; unfortunately for the universe (and Keith) one of those things was a collection of various films. They were all in Altean, but with the castle's translators the other paladins wouldn't have a problem understanding.

The real problem was that they were terrible. Absolute garbage. Total crap.

"Nah, man. We're gunna introduce them to some Earth movies Pidgey had on their laptop." Keith snorted at the pet name; the little gremlin was definitively going to hate it.

He nodded back to Lance. "Fine. I was done here any way." Keith picked up his jacket and deactivated his bayard. "End training sequence." He commanded and, for a brief moment, the light in the centre of the bot's head blinked red before the command was obeyed and the Gladiator jumped up through an opening in the ceiling. Weird. He thought to himself, but Lance was already jabbering on again and he didn't have a chance to think more about the occurrence. Instead, Keith double-checked that he had his belongings and headed for the showers, leaving the chatty Humans behind.

The hot water felt incredible against his sore muscles. Easing the tension and tightness from training, and washing away the sweat. He towel dried his hair and wrapped a second towel around his waist before pulling his clothing from the spinner.

The castle had a round bin just inside each of the shower stalls for washing your clothing. It was the same concept as the ones they had on base; dirty clothes went in, sterilization happened, clean clothes came out. It was tech they had stolen from the Empire and it was soooo convenient. Some things still needed to be washed, but it worked in a pinch. He had put his favourite outfit into the bid before the shower and was now able to put on freshly laundered clothes. He felt good, fresh and clean and relaxed. Training had a way of calming him like nothing else could. The others didn't understand that, but the others weren't Galra.

Keith headed to the lounge and flopped down on the couch next to Pidge. The large, round, white room had what appeared to be a bed sheet taped haphazardly to one of the walls and Lance was still sitting on Hunk's shoulders as he finished securing the final corner. Keith grinned but turned his attention to the Green paladin sitting next to him.

"What movie are we watching?"

"We're gunna take a vote when the princess gets here." They replied, not bothering to look up from their laptop. Keith flopped back over and stared up at the ceiling, he could hear Coran and Shiro talking about the paladin's training schedules, Hunk and Lance arguing about what the movie snacks should be, and Pidge typing away. The two boy's conversation migrated to the topic of 'best alien depiction in Earth cinema' and the award went to … none of them in Keith's opinion. They were all either ridiculous or horribly racist and he hated the few Earth movies he watched that were about aliens. With one exception: Killer Klowns From Outer Space. That movie was so bad it was great. He hadn't laughed so hard in a really, really long time.

A dobash or so later, the door to the lounge hissed open and the Princess, followed by her 5 little mice, entered the room. The mice took one look at him and scampered into Allura's hair. She shot him a pointed look and he rolled his eyes, letting his head fall back to the couch.

It didn't take long for everyone to get situated and Pidge began rattling off the movie options. They each got to pick one choice and the group would decide based on those selections.

Allura: LaLa Land (because it looked like a classic Altean film)
Coran: The Lego Movie (because of the bright colours)
Hunk: Starwars (because "it's perfect you guys")
Lance: Men In Black (because "aww come on! Will smith kicking alien ass!")
Shiro: Planet Earth BBC documentary (because "learning is fun you guys.")
Pidge: Aliens (because the little sociopath wanted to scare the pants off the Alteans)
Keith: Guardians Of The Galaxy (because hey isn't that what they were in a way?)

Lance made a few comments about why Pidge even had a romcom musical and a BBC documentary in their downloads, and the group argued back and fourth (mostly it was the 4 humans arguing) about what movie was the best choice. In the end they all learned a valuable lesson – this was not a democracy. Pidge pulled the 'my laptop, my rules' card and the entire group soon found themselves strapped in for a horror movie about aliens attacking on a spaceship – while they were currently on an alien spaceship. It was enough to make Allura, Hunk, and Lance incredibly nervous and jumpy, though the latter would never admit it.

When the movie was over they were all too worked up to go bed, so Shiro suggested another movie – which Pidge promptly selected on the teams behalf. This time they watched 'Twister' and it did nothing to calm them down. However, it did open up discussions about Earth vs Altea.

Allura and Coran reminisced fondly over their home planet, while the other paladins recounted things about Earth. Keith sat quietly on the couch, listening to their stories and smiling at a few.

"I miss rain, and splashing in puddles." Lance added after a moment of silence.

"Rain?" Coran asked, confused. He looked to Allura who shrugged and Lance launched into an explanation.

"Yeah, it's water that falls from the sky."

"Oh, we had that on Altea. Only, it wasn't water, more like rocks, Razor-sharp and boiling-hot. Oh, they could knock a hole right in your head." He had a love-struck look on his face as he remembered and the princess smiled at him, nodding along to his story. If it weren't for her agreeing, Keith would have thought the eccentric man had made it all up, or heavily exaggerated at the very least. Altea sounded horrible.

"Sounds fun." Lance sarcastically replied.

"Aww man, I miss the rain! I used to love sitting at the window and watching it fall." Hunk chimed in. "And the fresh smell in the air after it cleared; magical!"

Pidge nodded with him and rocked in their crossed legged position. "Me too, I used to open my windows on a stormy night so I could fall asleep to the sound of the rain and thunder."

"Yeah, Adam and I used to curl up with a mug of hot chocolate and watch the storms together. I really miss that." Shiro had a little glimmer in his eye, a ghost of a tear that Keith knew he wouldn't let fall.

"What about you, Mullet. What's your rain memory?" All eyes turned to look at Keith as Lance spoke and he felt himself wither under their scrutiny.

"I uh – I've never experienced rain."

"WHAT?" Lance shrieked at his confession.
"Are you serious?" Hunk added.
"Come again?" Pidge this time.
"Keith, how is that possible?" Shiro asked.
"Never? How unfortunate." Allura contributed.
"My, my dear boy!" Coran finished.

"Look I – I didn't grown up on a planet like all of you guys did. I grew up on a highly secure base and – never mind ok, just forget I said anything." He got up and moved to storm out of the room; sometimes he couldn't help but think about all the things he missed out on from having not grownup on Earth like the others; or any planet for that matter.

"Hey, woah, hold your horses their! We didn't mean for you to take off." Lance jumped to his feet and grabbed Keith's arm, pulling just a little too hard and the black haired boy lost his balance, falling directly onto Hunk's lap.

He murmured a sorry and he tried to escape but it was too late, those strong arms were already wrapping themselves around him. "OH KEITH! I keep forgetting you're not fully Human and you're like, a literal alien!" He added and the young Galra breathed what could very well be his last breath.

"Question Paladins! Is it important for Humans, even half Humans, to breathe?" Coran thankfully interjected and Hunk's tight grip eased enough that Keith was able to take in a gasping breath.

"Oh man, sorry Keith! You ok buddy?"

"S'fine Hunk." He croaked, his voice coming out raspier than normal.

"So wait, you've never experienced rain?" Pidge asked and he shook his head. "Like, ever?"

"It doesn't rain on a space station Pidge, everything is climate controlled and I'd never been on a planet before coming to Earth. Well, that's not true. I'd been to Oklarion a few times, but never more than a quintant. Experiencing a natural day / night cycle was really weird, and natural gravity was hard to adjust to."

"What? Natural gravity?" Lance asked with a dumbfounded expression, his large mouth hanging open. "What about the wind, or the warm sun, or like – the ocean, or a beach, or a forest, or -"

"Lance, I think it's safe to say it was all very new to him. Right Keith?" He nodded to Shiro's assumptions and felt himself blush. All of them, all 6 of the castle's other occupants, were staring in his direction now and it made him incredibly uncomfortable.

"But he lived on Earth for like, 2 years!"

"Yeah, but like, in Texas – in a desert." Hunk countered. "I know the Chihuahuan Desert gets more rain than, like, the Sahara but it's still a desert, right?" Lance shrugged and tried to argue more but Hunk thankfully continued. "Oh man, what about thunderstorms? Did you ever experience one?"

Keith shook his head. "No. The first one I ever experienced was when I was really little, like maybe 3 I think. I don't remember much, just that I was terrified. I remember my dad sitting with us and explain what was happening but I don't remember anything else. Then when I came back to Earth, it wasn't until I was already at the Garrison by the time the first storm hit." He felt a blush creep up his cheeks. This was about to get really embarrassing, he could tell.

Once again, Lance looked like he was about to comment, pry for more details, but Pidge intervened. They had exchanged a look with Keith and gave him a reassuring nod, jumping in to save him from a dangerous line of questions they both knew he didn't want to answer. "When I was little I used to go to my brother Matt's room at night to hide from the thunder and lightning. It wasn't until a few years ago that I actually started to enjoy it."

"Yeah, yeah, same here! Growing up in Samoa I got pretty used to the rain, but coming to Garrison was different. It was scarier being in a different country, with none of my family around, all alone. Oh man, Keith, buddy! You must have been so scared!" Keith rolled his eyes.

"I wasn't scared. The Garrison had protocol in place in the event of a tornado and I made sure to study the student handbook. It was fine just, different."

"So you have never experienced a sandy beach then either?" Lance finally managed to get a word in.

"Well no, not exactly. But I felt the sand at my dad's cabin."

"OHHHH NO! Not the same sand! Ok Mullet, when we get back to Earth you are coming to Cuba and I am making you sit on the beach. You're pale complexion could use some colour and vitamin D." Keith rolled his eyes and suddenly froze as the realization hit him; they all thought he was going back to Earth with them after the war. Was he?

"Back – to Earth?" He asked, his voice quiet and weak. The obvious answer was no. No, he wouldn't go back to Earth, at least not permanently. He didn't belong there; he was Galra first and foremost, and he belonged amongst his own people. But he did promise his dad he would be back. Maybe he could return with the others, visit his dad a bit, make fun of the Garrison senior command for not knowing they had an alien at their school, and then head back to the Blades. That could work!

His thoughts must have been flying across his face, before he knew it there was a soft hand resting on his shoulder and the princess was looking at him with kind eyes. "I understand; Coran and I no longer have a home to return to after we defeat Zarkon either."

He smiled at her, but the sentiment didn't reach his eyes. Scanning around the room he took in all of their faces and let out a breath. "No offense, but I do have a home to go back to – it's just not Earth." The room was quiet for a moment and he let it resonate before continuing. "I'll return with you all, to see my dad, but then I'm going home."

"So wait, after this war we may never see you again?" Hunk asked, genuine sadness in his voice.

"Well, not never. I'll come visit Earth, but it's not my home. I don't want to talk about this. We aren't anywhere close to winning this war, and I don't want to think about it yet."

"Well the Princess is always welcome on Earth." Lance quickly added, turning a flirty grin in Allura's direction. "You can come back to Cuba and I'll show you my hometown. Varadero beach is amazing, you'll love it! Clean white sand, bright turquoise water, and the hot sun with a soft warm breeze! Oh man, it's the best." Lance was practically gushing as he described his home. And Keith had to admit, it did sound lovely. "Oh, and my mamá makes the best tamales."

"What is a 'tamales'? Is it … food?" Allura asked hesitantly and Keith shrugged; he had absolutely no idea what a lot of what Lance described were.

Their conversation carried on in much the same way, the 4 Humans and 2 Alteans continuing to reminisce about their home planets while Keith listened in. Occasionally a question would be directed at him and he'd answer if he could. Coran and Pidge ran interference, abruptly changing topics or asking a different question when the subject of his home or other parentage came up.

"As much as I am enjoying these memories and learning about this 'Earth' you paladins come from, I'm afraid I must 'plug the pulley' as you Humans say." Coran exclaimed. He stood, brushed off his clothes, and offered an extended hand to Allura. "Come princess, you really must get some rest. You are still drained from the rejuvenation ceremony on the Balmera."

"Yes, I suppose that would be wise." She replied with a smile, struggling to her feet as she clasped his hand. "Good night paladins." A small wave of the hand and a gentle smile was offered their way as the two Alteans left the room.

"It's 'pull the plug' right?" Keith asked. Stars if he'd been saying wrong this whole time he'd be so embarrassed.

Lance burst out in raucous laughter. "Yeah, Mullet. Oh my god you're hilarious." He teased and Keith rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest, and letting out a huff of annoyance.

"Well cadets, I think Coran is right; time to hit the hay." Shiro smiled at them all and, with an old man groan, rose to his feet. He scooped up a nearly sleeping Pidge in the process.

"Sure thing DAD." Lance teased and the Black paladin smacked him on the back of the head causing Keith to snort. A spiteful glare was cast in his direction and he merely shrugged, not remorseful in the least. They walked back to their rooms in relative silence, save for Lance whisper-yelling to Hunk about his family.

"G'Night guys." Hunk waved and disappeared into his room with a warm smile. Keith waved back and offered the boy a soft nod.

Lance's mouth opened up to reveal the caverns of Drogli swallowing his face as he yawned. "Night Hunk, night Shiro, night Pidgey -" An angry grumbling sound responded from the small green and blonde bundle in Shiro's arms. "- night Mullet."

"Night Lance."

"Keith? Can I talk to you?" Shiro asked as he came out of the Green paladin's room.

"Uh, yeah, sure."

The man ushered them into his quarters, shutting the door behind him, and gesturing for Keith to take a seat. "I know it must be hard for you, when we talk about Earth."

"It doesn't bother me."

"Are you sure? Cause you kinda shut down for a while there."

"Yeah, that – that had nothing to do with you guys." They sat in silence for far too long, both becoming uncomfortable as it progressed.

"Listen, if you ever need someone to talk to you can come to me. I know I may not be able to help with everything but you can always come to me for a shoulder or a listening ear. Just so you know – I'm here for you Keith, I always will be." A strong hand crossed the distance and squeezed his shoulder with affection. "Your dad's home isn't the only place you can go back to on Earth. I know you and Adam never really got along, but you're important to me and you're always welcome at the Shirogane-Warren home!" The man had a thousand watt smile plastered on his face and Keith couldn't help but snicker.

"Thanks, that means a lot Shiro." He smiled back.