Hello Everybody. A new chapter is finished and so far it it the most difficult one, I have written so far, because of the themes, I'm dealing within this chapter. A special thanks for all the inspiration from BellatrixLestrangey and her stories, how to approach such a delicate theme.

!WARNING! This chapter contains mentioning of cruel drill camps and it mentions the results of a rape and how this person had handled this crime. To make it clear, it's a fictional story and it is no kind of order, advice or judgment, how a person should handle such a shocking crime!

Acxa meets Kathy and the kids again and Veronica shares some hard truths with Freyda. I wish all of you a lot of fun with thins new chapter.

The Dark in The Light

Acxa was nervous. She was standing before Ronan's and Freyda's quarter but she didn't dare to use the buzzer. How should she explain a little child, why she had rejected her help. She remembered the hurt face of the little kid and it was knotting her guts.

"Hey Acxa, why are you here?"

She winced and turned around in surprise. Pidge, Hunk and Lance were closing the distance between the corner, the group had passed seconds before and the Galra.

"Are you here to talk with Ronan?"

Hunk's voice was getting serious and he released an audible gasp, as the Galra shook her head.

"Kathy had asked for me."

She avoided the pensive looks from Pidge and Hunk, but Lance started to smile.

"Great, we came for the other kids. We wanted to invite them for a basketball game and some Popsicles. You can join us with Kathy."

Before Acxa could start a protest, he had pushed the buzzer. Acxa thought about to leave before any of the kids might see her, but the door opened right at the moment, when she was about to turn around on spot. Christina had opened the door and a happy smile grew on her face.

"Lance!"

The Paladin beamed at her.

"Hey Chrissy, like I promised. We're back and ready for a game. Gather the others, it's time to play basketball."

The kid nodded with a wide smile and turned around.

"Jessy, Patrick, Clarissa, Sam, Kathy! Lance, Hunk and Pidge are back. And they have brought Acxa with them. They want to play basketball with us."

A cheerful noise started to fill the quarter. The kids came running to the Paladins and slammed into them with joyful screams and laughters. It seemed, that the day with the pilots of the lions had made a great impression on them. Acxa noticed Freyda approaching with Tjaàl on her arm. The kid was still sleeping beside the cheerful noise. Jessy and Kathy also approached. The eyes of the little girl widened, as she spotted Acxa. The Galra blushed and turned her head embarrassed to the ground. But she lifted it instantly, at Kathy's happy voice.

"Acxa!"

The child rushed to the Galra. The next thing Acxa realized was, that she has got down on her knees, to give the little girl a hug. The child had wrapped her arms around her neck and had snuggled her cheek against Acxa's. A warm and satisfied smile was on Kathy's lips while she nuzzled her head at Acxa with closed eyes. The Galra recognized the warm smiles around her. Even Freyda and Jessy shared a smile with her and the other Galra nodded in approval. She felt a little hand wiping away a tear from her cheek.

"'ou okay?"

The kid looked worried at her but her smile returned, as Acxa gave her a shy smile.

"Yes, Kathy. I'm only happy, that you aren't mad with me about refusing your help."

The little girl pointed with her finger on the middle of Acxa's chest.

"It's okay. These outchies are worst."

Acxa and also the Paladins shared baffled looks with each others.

"Like I said. She has an eye for scars. Also for the hidden ones."

Jessy also joined the group in the corridor. Her voice was gentle and she playfully messed up Kathy's hair, which made the child giggle. Acxa wanted to stand up, but the girl kept her arms around the Galra's neck, so she was forced to lift her up. As soon as she got a good and comfortable grip on Kathy, the girl started to rub her horns again. Acxa was about to break out in tears. She shared looks between Kathy and Jessy. A child shouldn't have an idea of such scars, but Kathy did. They all did. She took four or five deep breaths and focused on the soothing rubbing of the kid with closed eyes, until she opened them up again. She shared a weak but thankful smile with all of them and turned to Lance.

"Alright, let's play."

"Whooh! And another point for Team-Sharp-Shooter!"

Lance was celebrating another point with Pidge, Christine, Patrick and Sam.

"Oh yeah? Let's see, how you'll handle our answer, big mouth?"

Hunk's obviously faked anger forced Acxa to roll her eyes, as she was passing the ball over to Hunk. Lance instantly started to make a exaggerated concentrated face and got in close contact with his chest at Hunks shoulder, who was guarding the ball whit his body, while he was dribbling. Jessy was laughing warm about the great show of the two guys. The happy sound filled the court and only encouraged both to put more efforts in their show. Lance faked a slight touch with his hand at Hunks shoulder. The big man jumped back, instantly, like he was hit by an giant tank and rolled trice over the field, yelling a loud protest about a rude foul, which obviously hasn't happened. The hall was filled with the cheerful laughters of the kids and Lance and Hunk started a 'serious' discussion about bad acting.

Freyda was observing the scenery with a smile on her lips. To see the kids having such a good time, after all the went trough, simply warmed her heart. She had taken place on a trainings bank with Tjaàl. The baby was busy, slamming his hands on another basketball with high cheerful screams. The Galra was holding him together with the ball on her upper legs. She turned her head to the doorway, as Veronica entered the hall. The woman laughed out loud, as she watched Acxa, Jessy, Clarissa and Hunk bulldozing a free way for Kathy who was carrying the ball with joyful high screams of fun towards the basket of 'Team-Sharp-Shooter'. Her happy screams only grew louder, as she had reached the basket and she was lifted up by Hunk high in the air, so she could reach the ring and easily pushing the ball into the basket. It warmed her heart so much to see Acxa finally laughing as well. Hunk had lifted the kid down again and the child had crushed into Acxa with a chuckling laughter. She noticed Freyda and the scanning look of the Galra, so she walked over to her and took seat beside the woman. Tjaàl beamed at her and forced Veronica to smile along with him, while he was joyful cooing. Suddenly, Freyda took Tjaàl up and offered Veronica the chuckling baby. The woman's eyes widened in surprise. She was about to refuse the offer, but Freyda simply placed the baby on Veronica's lap. The human watched the baby with nervousness, but the child only showed a observant curiosity.

"Be careful."

Freyda's voice had an light impish flicker in it, but Veronica missed it. She was too nervous and too focused not to make a mistake with the baby, that she only noticed the words, but not the hidden subtext. She was about to turn to Freyda in order to ask, why she should be careful, when Tjaàl gave her the answer. The baby grabbed her glasses with a quick but surprisingly strong move of his arms and ripped it off her face with a squeaking laughter. The woman did a short shocked gasp, but started to laugh about Tjaàl's curiosity. The baby already had started to chew on her glasses.

"Hey little one, I need these ones to see your beautiful smile."

Freyda smiled warm at both and took gently the glasses out of the baby's hands. Veronica took them with a thankful smile. She wiped them clean at her suit and put them back on her nose. Tjaàl gave her an most innocent smile, but this time she was prepared and could block his hands with a beaming smile.

Jessy gave Acxa a little shove and nodded at the trainings bank. The Galra turned around and her eyes widened in surprise. But then a warm tickling started in her belly. It found its way up and down her body, warming her pleasantly from the inside. She saw Veronica clumsy and carefully holding Tjaàl. Acxa nearly laughed out loud, as the child grabbed the glasses of her girlfriend. But an almost teary warm smile remained at she finally watched Veronica playing with the baby, with one of her beautiful smiles on her lips. She was her strength. She would ever be.

"Hey Acxa! We're not finished, yet. Or do you give up?"

Pidge was teasing her with a bright smile. Acxa returned an impish grin.

"Dream on, little girl."

Veronica lifted her head and observed the game with a warm smile. She was now also holding the ball for Tjaàl and the baby was busy again, hitting the ball with the palms of his tiny hands.

"She seems to melt."

Veronica turned her head to Freyda. The Galra watched her with a gentle smile. The woman turned her head back and watched Kathy trying to take away the bouncing ball from Pidge. She nodded.

"Yes she does. And not only Kathy. All of the kids."

Freday started to chuckle.

"You're right, but I wasn't talking about the kids."

Veronica raised an eyebrow in surprise, but she focused on the game again. She observed Acxa. The Galra's face looked different, indeed. The seriousness, the worries, the guards her girlfriend was always showing, when other people were around were vanished from her face. The woman was smiling and laughing with the kids, especially with Kathy. Tears of joy came to Veronica's eyes.

"Yes. I never have seen her so open with other people."

Freyda nodded. Veronica was sure, that she had expected this answer. So she started to think about it. And a suggestion came to her mind, But she would also chose a winding way.

"You have an idea, what Acxa has been through?"

She recognized a sparkle in the corner of the Galra's eyes. The woman faced her with her scanning look.

"An idea and some hard facts. She was a capable General and a respected soldier, so some steps of her career aren't foreign for me. But she is also a 'Szechach', a half-blood. Galran society isn't nice to them. Even if they manage their way in the army"

Veronica's face darkened. The last long night came to her mind.

"She has finally told me more about her past last night. How she became a soldier."

Veronica took a deep breath. She felt the burning yellow eyes looking in her soul. But there was an understanding in this look. An silent offer, given with patiences. The kind of she had given Acxa so often.

"She had lived on the streets alone for some years, before she got caught stealing food. Because she had managed to survive for so long on her own as a child, "mercy" was shown and she was brought to a drill-camp."

Tears weeped up in her eyes. It still shocked her, how hard Acxa's life must have been. She suddenly felt Freday's hand resting on her shoulder. The Galra's eyes also got a wet glitter.

"She was taught to fight and to kill in this camp and so she survived and after she had accomplished the drill, she became a member of the Galran forces."

Freyda kept scanning her and suddenly sadness rushed over her face, but also understanding.

"She has spared you the details, I see."

Veronica's look got shocked and alarmed. The woman beside her kept observing her.

"I think, this is a mistake. You can handle them. You have to, otherwise you couldn't understand her."

Veronica got pale, but she got a grip on Freyda's wrist. Her look was still shocked but full of determination. She kept locked with the yellow eyes.

"She has to talk with you about her experiences, trust me, because if this was all, she has told you about these camps, it's a terrible insufficient picture."

The Galra closed her eyes. Grief and shame was rushing over her face, but she kept holding Veronica's shoulder.

"These camps, Acxa has mentioned. I didn't knew, that this was her entrance to the army. Even the normal drill would have been an harassment for her. But this is even worse. In Galran culture, these camps are for rehabilitation of criminals. A life of a Szechach is already hard, but without a family, who stand for such a person, these people are seen as criminals, only because they exist. Have been caught stealing had only doubled her problems. Normally such a person would have been killed, but they have chosen a more cruel punishment."

Veronica was shaking in shock, but also Freyda was trembling.

"People, who were thrown in these camps were formed to trainings groups, classes, you may call it. And then they got trained to fight and to kill, without hesitation, without mercy. They learn to bare pain, grief, fear and suffer without showing them until they manage to cage out these feelings. To show one of them means more punishment and pain until you break or you learn to handle it. In the end, the army has one perfect soldier, who is capable to do even the hardest and cruelest jobs."

She finally opened her eyes and she was crying, silently. Veronica was totally shocked, but Freyda still wasn't finished.

"Literally. Only one of each class survives this, the others die trying. Killed by their own classmates."

Veronica felt her stomach cramping and twisting. She suddenly recognized Tjaàl on her lap again, who seemed to look worried. He tried to touch her nose. She looked back to Freyda with shock. The Galra nodded with tears in her eyes and took back the baby, giving the little boy a long kiss on his forehead and cradling him tight in her arms.

"To know, that I once have called such things rightful nearly breaks me, every time I see my little boy."

She started to rub his growing horns and the child closed his eyes in pleasure.

"To know, that I once have wish he wouldn't exist breaks me even more."

She kissed the baby again, while her tears freely ran down her cheeks. Veronica watched shocked at her. She was confused about this quote but Freyda continued.

"In most Galras eyes, he is the living prove of my ultimate shame. My scars might be accepted as the result of my capturing, but a child, a Szechach? Never! We would both have been killed for that."

Veronica's instincts took over. She pulled the Galra in a deep hug, crying along with her, silently. The shocking truth hit her harder than everything, she had felt before.

"Ronan isn't…?"

Freyda interrupted her.

"On biological terms, no, but he is his father. The best a woman and a child could ask for. He became his father from the first moment, he found out, what they had done to me."

She wiped away some of her tears and shared a smile with Tjaàl, who was smiling back at her.

"I was too weak, as he had rescued me, so I had to go through pregnancy. An abortion might have killed me, so it was no option for him. He offered me to take care for the child, when it would be born, so I might have returned home with honor. But things turned out different."

She looked up and a warm glow was in the Galra's eyes. Veronica released her carefully out of her hug.

"You felt in love with him."

Feryda nodded.

"It is more honor in him, than in many Galras. He cared for me, he showed me his scars to prove me, that he understands my own. He had stolen a ship soon after my rescue and had brought me to this planet, so he could be there for me every day, every hour during my healing and my pregnancy. He guided me through the pains of labor and then Tjaàl was born. It was the final change."

She gave the baby another kiss.

"Ronan was simply a happy father in this moment. The happy father, he should have been since years. As this happy father showed me my child, I started to become a happy mother as well. I couldn't leave them."

Veronica was pale and trembled slightly. She had no clue, how this woman was able to handle such experiences. How she had managed to accept this. The Galra noticed it and her face became proud and strong.

"He became my biggest scar. The one I'm most proud of to can show them every day. The prove, that I could deal with this pain and that I have managed to find a new hope and a new reason to fight and to live for within my darkest moment."

She kissed the baby again, who has started to fall asleep again, because of her soothing rubbing. This way of interpretation was fitting somehow in Veronica's eyes. It reminded her so much of Acxa and how her girlfriend often tried to approach problems. It was an typical Galran way of interpretation, in her opinion.

"I don't know, if I could have made such a decision."

A shy smile rushed over Freyda's lips.

"I wouldn't blame anyone, who would choose a different way. How could I. I would have done so, when my condition had allowed it. And without Ronan at my side..." A somber pain rushed over her face. "… Without his strength, love and care..." She shook her head and fought nearly successfully against her tears again. "I'm sure, where this would have been ended."

Both woman observed the sleeping baby with a weak, but warm smile.

"It was a hard way to reach this point, but look at my child. Today I'm glad, that I dared to pick up this fight with myself, but I has cost me a lot to come to this point. I couldn't have done it without his strength and support."

A cheerful yelling made both women look up to the field. The kids, Acxa and the Paladins were in a big group hug and were jumping in a circle together in the middle of the field. It seemed, that none of them had recognized the hard and heavy conversation between the women. Freyda wiped away her last tears and the warm smile grew on her face again. She placed a hand on Veronica's shoulder and gave her a determinant look.

"Help her to accept, what has happened. Help her to change her point of view on herself. She cannot carry this weight on her own, trust me."

Veronica hugged Freyda. The Galran accepted this gesture and also pulled the human close.

"I will. Like you do with Ronan."

Freyda's eyes widened in surprise for a second but then a satisfied glow appeared in her yellow orbs, as both women released each other from the hug. Veronica looked thankful at her.

"I have seen in his face, how this is torturing him. He seems to be conflicted by his decision. The past and the presence is gnawing on him, like it is gnawing on Acxa. And we both want to help them to find a way out. I cannot loose her, like you cannot loose him."

Veronica's look became serious.

"I have promised Acxa to stay quiet about the duel. She had explained me the steps of this ritual demand and the possibilities of a peaceful solution. But I'll do everything to prevent them from hurting each other. But if I starts to think, that this would end up in a fight, than I won't stay quite anymore."

She withstood the scanning look of the Galra. Suddenly a proud smile came to Freyda's lips.

"I see, why the General has fallen in love with you."

She stood up and placed her right fist on her chest and nodded at Veronica.

"I feel honored by your open words for me. But I have to warn you. This option is not less dangerous."

A sad and worried glow was in her golden-yellow orbs.

"The Call is about honor and respect. As a Szechach, I think Acxa values honor more than many other Galras. You have to be very careful."

Veronica returned the greeting with a worried but thankful nod. She felt suddenly hands wrapping around her middle.

"Veronica, everything okay?"

Acxa must have noticed the serious looks, both women had shared before. The game was finished and so she had walked over to them, to ask, what was wrong. Her eyes widened in shock and surprise, as Veronica turned around, quickly. The woman placed a slap on her cheek, not really hard, but strong enough, that the hit stung a second or two. Anger and worries were in her girlfriend's eyes.

"Don't ever try to hide away such stories from me. All or nothing, next time."

Acxa was frozen on spot. She had no clue, what Veronica was talking about.

"She's talking about your 'Confirakk'"

Acxa's inhaled sharp, while she shared shocked looks with Freyda, who got a serious look on her face and a worried trembling Veronica. But suddenly the face of the Galra's girlfriend softened and grief and sadness remained. She pulled her in a close hug and kissed her gently.

"I know, you want to protect me, but how could I help you, when I don't know, what I've to look out for, Acxa."

She kissed her again. Acxa's eyes became a wet glitter.

"I promised not to scare you so much again, remember?"

A laughter escaped Veronica at this embarrassed muttered quote. She pulled Acxa only closer to her and kissed her a third time.

"I know. But it scares me even more not to know, which demons you have to fight."

Acxa finally smiled back at her and nuzzled her head for a while in Veronicas hair. She recognized an nod of approval from Freyda. The face of the half-Galra got serious.

"It wasn't your choice do decide this for me, even if it seems to be the right decision."

Acxa's eyes got a dangerous glow and she placed a finger on Veronica's lips, to show her to stay quite, while she kept focused on the scanning yellow eyes of Freyda. The Galra's face hardened visibly.

"Wrong. Veronica wants to protect, what she loves, so do I. So we have shared some hard truths."

She gently stroke with her thumb over the forehead of her sleeping child, without breaking eye contact.

"So I had all the right to aid her with this task. It was my rightful decision to do so."

Her eyes switched to Veronica.

"Like it is her right to make hard decisions, if necessary to protect her love."

Freyda placed her hand on Veronica's shoulder under Acxa's observant look and smiled at the woman. Then she turned to Acxa again and to Veronica's and her surprise her face softened visibly.

"Look at her and realize, what you have found in your darkest moment."

She kissed Tjaàl on his head and looked with a warm smile to the rest of the kids, who all were busy, searching for an ice, Hunk has brought along in an ice box to the field.

"Or beside it. It helps to cope with it, trust me."

She squeezed Veronica's shoulder supportively, before she took back her hand and shared a warm smile with both women.

"It could guide you through rough times. It does me."

I hope I have done a good job with this chapter. I know, it's an extremely delicate theme, which is able to burn your fingers, easily, but I wanted to try dealing (hopefully) tactful with it, without hiding the sad and shocking fact, that those crimes happen in war.

And now for some 'lighter' aspects. The word 'Confirakk' should have two possible directions of translation. It could be translated as 'confession' but also as 'avowal'. It symbolize the duality of the Confirakk as a rehabilitation. A confession of former crimes and an avowal for the 'rightful and honorable' Galran way of life. As Freyda had said, a Szechach can enter the Galran forces on the normal way, too and a family provides some protection for them, in my interpretation here. But as soon as a Szechach is stripped from its family, he or she is bare any sort of protection. My idea behind this background for Acxa and Galran society, I hope it fits in in the Voltron Universe.