Here we are, back at it again! So that season six, huh? I can already tell there are aspects of it that I will have to rework completely for this AU, which is a fun prospect in and of itself- determining which bits will work and which won't. But that's far off in the future, so lots of time to think about that! As always, thanks for reading, and until next time!

maroon

chapter three

war

They had all heard it.

The sound of Keith's screams were the last thing they all heard, before the lions were ripped out of their hangars, scattered throughout the universe. At the time, they had sent a bolt of fear through her, terribly afraid that something awful had happened to her paladin.

It was only once they had escaped the time loop, and picked up Pidge and the green lion, did she get the time to actually ask. What Coran told her was very much what she had already come to suspect- that the red paladin appeared to possess a sensitivity to quintessence.

Pidge supplied that he had been able to sense the blue lion in the desert, though he was not its paladin. Coran informed her that his weak state on the Balmera was due to him picking up on its dying state.

Either way, whatever that corrupted wormhole had done to him, it couldn't have been good.

With all lions accounted for, other than the red lion, she had felt her heart sink, wondering if they had perhaps lost it- and its paladin with it. When it finally came back online, Keith sending out a transmission, she felt some of her worry leave her.

He looked... pale, she thought, which was to be expected. The red lion had still been largely offline, only it's communications systems rebooted. They'd sent Hunk out in the yellow lion to collect him, knowing that his armor would be able to handle any near brushes with asteroids.

When Keith stumbled out of his lion, the worst of her fears abated. Aside from being pale, with deep circles under his eyes, he looked- and acted- largely fine. At least, in so far as she could tell- from what little she understood of the red paladin, she knew that he was not the type to ask for help, even if he needed it.

And she could not yet shake the dread that there was a chance that the wormhole had done something to him. Perhaps he might not even be aware of it, but if that witch's magic was as strong as she thought it was, she would not be at ease until she checked for herself.

She did feel a bit guilty about luring him away, on the pretense of seeing Shiro, who he was so clearly worried about, but the sooner she established if he had been compromised or not, the better. She would much rather do it here, in private, where he could at least be contained if her worst fears proved true.

Not that she would even know what to do if he had been. The least she could do was put him into cryosleep until she could think of a solution, which was not an attractive option, as it left them short one paladin.

Somehow she didn't think that Keith would be all that keen on it either.

He must have picked up on the fact that she thought something was wrong, for he shifted nervously on his feet at her question. She was surprised he didn't simply run- and grateful for it, for from what she had seen, Keith could be awfully quick on his feet. She'd have a hard time catching up to him.

"Isn't that the stuff that powers the empire's ships?" Keith asked, somehow managing to look anywhere but her face while also not letting it leave his line of vision.

"That's part of it, yes." Allura told him, squaring herself. There was no easy way for her to tell one of her paladins that there was a risk their mind might have been compromised, especially when they didn't seem to be aware of it themselves.

Perhaps it hadn't, then. She would hold to that faith.

Keith frowned, shifting on his feet again. "What's the other part?"

"As I am sure you recall, when I first assigned you each a lion, I mentioned that the lion reflects the quintessence of its pilot." Allura told him. "So yes, it can be used to power ships, such as the Galra use it, but it is also in a way the life force that exists within all that is around us."

"This, I believe, is what you sense."

He flinched at that, subtle though it was. His right hand twitched, his already tense form growing all the more so.

"Coran informed me of your... sensitivities. I understand that you did not trust me with this secret," and that stung, she wasn't going to deny it, "...but after what I heard, I could not exactly ignore it."

He said nothing, didn't even look at her- not directly, at least.

"Pidge has told me that on your planet, you would be called a psychic." She continued. "I believe that what you sense, this energy you have spoken of, is actually quintessence."

Finally breaking his silence, Keith's gaze shifted, violet eyes falling on her. There was something accusatory in it, as if he had picked up on what she was trying to get at. "I know you didn't bring me here for a lesson, princess, so why don't you just cut to the chase already?"

Heaving a sigh, she felt her shoulders slump. Keith was right, she was dancing around the topic.

"There is no easy way to put this, so I will simply cut to the chase, as you say." Allura told him, her frown not leaving her face. She would very much like him to at least know that she was not at ease with this herself, if nothing else. "I would like to recheck your quintessence."

The suspicion in his gaze pained her, but she could not exactly blame him for it. At the same time, she did not miss the glimmer of fear that passed through them, as if he had not yet considered such a thing himself.

"You think I've been tainted."

"Yes." Allura confessed. "I cannot deny the possibility. To be able to corrupt a wormhole like that- it is clear to me that whatever she is, Zarkon's witch is powerful."

She did not seem like a Galra, which bothered her more than she was willing to let on. Nor did the strange robed figures that had flanked her- at least, not like any Galra she had ever seen.

Folding his arms in front of him, he held her gaze, but she could not read it. She always considered herself skilled at reading expressions, but at times, Keith's face could become like a mask.

"I'm fine, princess." Keith told her. "I'm just tired."

"I am certain that you likely feel fine, but-" Allura began, but Keith cut her off.

"Listen. If I start feeling strange, you'll be the first to know." Keith told her. "But I'm not letting you examine me."

She could not say that she had not been prepared for such a reaction, but it still stung. She would have hoped that by now, she would have built up at least a little trust with him. She'd thought after the events with Sendak's crystal, that she had made some form of progress with him, but it would seem that was not the case.

"Keith, I-" Allura began, only to find herself cut off once more.

"Leave it, princess." Keith told her. "If that's all, I'm going to check on Shiro."

She felt herself deflate, half wanting to argue, but at the same time, sensing it would get her nowhere. She could be stubborn yes, but so could Keith- and the last thing she wanted to do was drive herself into an impasse with one of the paladins.

"Very well, then." Allura said. "But only if you promise to come to me the moment you feel anything off."

The mask-like quality of Keith's expression did not change- if anything, it only reinforced itself. "Fine, I promise."

She could hardly say that she was satisfied with that- but it would have to do. For the time being, she would simply keep a close eye on him, watching him for any strange behavior.

Not that she would know what strange behavior for Keith would even be, she realized. She knew so little about him, that Zarkon's witch might already be controlling him, and she would have no way of knowing.

Were it not for the fact that she had heard, with her own ears, the witch express interest in the red paladin, she likely would not even be considering such a thing. But what she had said was true- if she were capable of corrupting the wormhole in such a fashion, who knew what else she was capable of?

Not this, she hoped.

For if she was, she did not think herself strong enough to stop it.

It was only once he had gotten a fair distance away from the training deck, that Keith allowed his expression to falter.

He had held it together there out of need- he couldn't let Allura check his quintessence, not directly. Subconsciously, his right hand drifted towards the base of his spine, knowing without needing to ask that if she went looking for something odd with it, she would have no trouble finding it.

Even if the prospect that she had presented to him was... chewing on his lip, Keith drew his hand away, clenching and unclenching it. He hadn't checked on it yet, but he was almost certain it was still mottled purple underneath.

He didn't want to think that he'd been compromised in any way, but he couldn't dismiss the idea out of hand either. He knew what Zarkon's witch and her druids were capable of, and he couldn't claim with any confidence that he hadn't given her some kind of in.

It wouldn't have been the first time his mind had given way. It had never put anyone at risk before, but... what if that was the reason Kolivan kept him from missions that druids would be on?

He was still himself, of that much he was certain, but perhaps it would for the best if he took care to monitor his own actions. Once Red was fully back online, he was almost certain she would able to check for what he couldn't, but until then, the notion that he might be infected would be one that would haunt him.

Exhaling, Keith dropped his hand. He did still need to check on Shiro.

Making his way to the med bay, he let out a faint sigh of relief once he spotted the black paladin, deep in slumber in one of the healing pods. As much as he didn't want to ever be in one, he couldn't deny how useful they were.

There had been schematics among the files he had downloaded from the castle-ship, and he knew that Kolivan had their science division looking into replicating them. If the Blade of Marmora could get their hands on technology like this, it could save countless lives.

The medical technology that the Blades possessed was already vastly superior to anything any of the other rebel forces had- he would know- but sometimes, it just wasn't enough.

Doors to the med bay sliding open, Keith turned his head, catching Pidge's eye. One of her fingers was tucked into her mouth, and she frowned when she saw him, pulling it out.

"Oh hey, Keith. Still here?" She asked.

"Yeah. Just about to leave." Keith told her. "What's wrong with your finger?"

"Paper cut." Pidge told him. "Any chance you know where Coran keeps the adhesive strips around here?"

"I think they're over there?" Keith told her, as if he hadn't mapped out every part of the med bay to determine where everything was located should he need to use it in a pinch. "How'd you get a paper cut in space anyways?"

Humans were so fragile they could get cut by paper- sometimes it was a wonder to him that they had survived this long.

Not against Zarkon, just in general. Still, they were nothing if not resilient. The more time he spent with them, the more he understood that.

Making her way over towards the drawer he indicated, Pidge found the adhesive strips. "I was looking through the castle-ship's library. They have some old books on Altean engineering that aren't available in the ship's systems."

Watching as she peeled off the backing of the strip, sticking it to her finger, Keith frowned. He knew the ship had a library, he just didn't think anyone used it, except for maybe Coran. "You read Altean?"

"No." Glancing his direction, she set the strips back where she found them. "Mostly I'm just looking at the blueprints. I might try to learn Altean though, if we ever have the time."

"Yeah?" Folding his arms in front of him, Keith quirked a brow.

There were translator microbes within the castle-ship itself, he knew, and Allura had given them each nanobots designed to do the same for whenever they left the ship. That was great for spoken word, but it didn't do anything for the written word.

Not that he'd used his. He'd snuck them back where they'd come from later that day, knowing she wasn't likely to check that particular drawer again. Being a member of the Blade required an extensive knowledge of all common universal languages, and nanobots were a liability.

Easier to just have an entire language uploaded into ones head, if there was an urgent need to learn it. It was how he had picked up English, though it had taken him awhile to get the pronunciation right.

"Thought it could help." Pidge told him. "Did you hear Lance and Hunk got brainwashed by mermaids?"

Letting out a snort, Keith couldn't help but flash a grin. "They did what now?"

"Brainwashed by mermaids. Or well, fish people." She said, a slight frown to her features. "We had to treat Lance for jellyfish stings because he put one on his head to block the mind control rays. Turns out it was just the food all along."

"Sounds like they had a wild time." Keith observed.

"Sounds like it. I just got launched into a trash nebula." Pidge said.

"You sound like you almost wanted to be brainwashed by mermaids." Keith observed.

She merely gave him a deadpan look. "I think I can live without ever experiencing that. Speaking of which, do you think you're more or less resistant to brainwashing?"

Caught off guard by the question, Keith blinked. If it had come from anyone but Pidge, it'd worry him, but coming from her it was probably just a spur of the moment thing. "More, I'd hope?"

"But you don't know." Pidge said, to which Keith merely shrugged. Nobody had ever tried brainwashing him before, so how was he supposed to know?

"Fair enough." She said. "Anyways, you'd better get some sleep. You really did give us all a huge scare back there, Keith. You sure you're fine?"

"I promise, Pidge, I'm fine." Keith told her.

She merely arched her brows at that- before shrugging her shoulders. "If you say so. If you need me for some reason, I'll be in the library. Not that I need to tell you that, since you always seem to be so good at finding us."

"What can I say?" Keith told her. "It's a gift."

More like years of training, he mentally supplied.

"Yeah well, I wish you were that easy to find. Do you know how many times Shiro has torn the ship apart looking for you?" Pidge asked.

He couldn't help but wince at that- maybe he did try a little too hard to make himself scarce when it wasn't time to gather. "I- sorry."

He wasn't sure why he was apologizing, but it seemed like the right thing to do here. Maybe? What he'd told Ulaz was true, humans were complicated- what pacified one usually upset another, and trying to pick up on their various social cues wasn't anywhere near as easy as infiltrating an imperial cruiser was.

At least it just got him painted as being socially awkward, rather than alien.

"Eh, you don't need to apologize." Pidge said. "We've all got our ways of dealing with being in a space war. Yours is hiding, nothing wrong with that."

He wanted to protest that he wasn't hiding, but thought better of it. Best to just let her believe that.

"How's Red?"

Letting out a loud yelp, Hunk spun around, shoulders slumping when he realized it was just Keith. For his part, the red paladin looked completely unaffected by his reaction, merely watching him with curious eyes.

"Keith man, you gotta give a guy some warning before you sneak up on them like that." Hunk told him, placing a hand over his heart, trying to steady it's loud beating.

Keith merely frowned. "I wasn't trying to sneak up on you."

Which... yeah, he kind of knew. Keith just had naturally silent footsteps- like a cat, this guy.

Still, would it kill him to call out before he was like, right beside him? Or right behind him, as he was in this case.

"So uh... you came to check up on Red, right?" Hunk asked, changing the topic with all the grace of a stampeding rhino. "It's probably gonna be awhile until I can get all her systems back online. Zarkon really did a number on her, and I'm pretty sure going through that weird wormhole didn't do her too many favors."

At the mention of the wormhole, he couldn't help but frown, studying Keith. He had changed out of his paladin armor and was back in his casual clothes, and for all the world, he looked just as fine as he claimed to be- just a little pale, if anything.

Except for the bandages that peeked out from underneath the glove on his right hand. He barely even caught them, his arms folded, right hand tucked into the crock of his elbow, nearly hidden from view.

"Uh, is your hand okay?" Hunk asked.

Blinking, Keith's gaze flickered down towards it. "It's fine. Just a little banged up. Coran already looked at it."

Oh well, if Coran had already looked at it, then it probably was fine. Relaxing, Hunk gave him a smile. "Good to hear. I know you've probably had this mentioned to you like, a million times, but you really did give us a scare back there, buddy."

Ducking his head, Keith seemed to frown. "Sorry."

"No, no, you totally don't have to apologize for it!" Hunk told him. "We're just all glad you're okay."

Aw man, he didn't want Keith to feel bad. That was the last thing he wanted!

"So uh, I thought you would have crashed by now." Hunk said, changing the topic again. "No offense, but you look pretty wiped."

"Is it that bad?" Keith asked, touching the corner of his eye.

He opened his mouth, about to tell him that the bags weren't that noticeable, when thoughts connected in his head. Slamming his mouth shut, his thoughts flickered back to something Shiro had let slip once before.

"Is this about him sleeping in the red lion?"

Oh man... oh man, was Keith down here because he was looking for a place to sleep?

"I, uh- don't take this the wrong way if I'm wrong," Hunk stammered, deciding to just come out and ask it, "-but do you uh... do you sleep in the red lion? Like, usually?"

Frowning, Keith narrowed his eyes. "Is that a problem?"

"No, no problem!" Hunk said, holding up his hands. "But doesn't that get uncomfortable after awhile?"

"It's safe." Keith stated simply. "You never know when the empire is going to attack."

And oh, did his heart hurt at that. Because like... that was true, but even Shiro didn't sleep in his lion- when he did sleep, which Hunk suspected wasn't as often as he should.

"I mean, yeah but..." Hunk trailed off. "It's gotta hurt your back."

Keith merely shrugged. "It's fine. You get used to it."

But you shouldn't have to get used to it, some part of Hunk wanted to protest, but instead he decided it would be best to change the topic again. Unfortunately, in this case, it meant blurting out the first thing that came to mind.

"Why do you talk about them that way anyways?"

Keith blinked, staring up at him, uncomprehending. "Talk about what?"

Welp, no going back now. "You know, the Galra." He told him. "You always say the empire."

He wasn't sure when he'd picked up on it, but once he had, he couldn't help but notice that Keith was the only one who never called them that.

Keith frowned, his brows knitting together. "Because the empire's the problem."

"Well yeah, that's true, but-" Hunk began.

Heaving a long sigh, Keith's frown deepened. "Hunk, do you honestly think that an entire race of people is evil?"

Snapping his mouth shut, Hunk blinked. Because when he put it that way... no, he didn't.

"You don't think Allura's like... lying to us, do you?" Hunk hesitated. He was pretty sure that wasn't what Keith meant, but sometimes he wasn't the best at picking up on stuff like that.

Keith merely let out a snort. "No, I don't think she's lying. But wars aren't black and white. You can't assume that everyone on the battlefield actually wants to be there."

There was something almost definitive to that statement, like he knew, personally, and he couldn't help but take in just how tired Keith looked in that moment. Maybe it was just because he hadn't slept in awhile, that had him looking more world weary than any eighteen year old had business looking.

(Child soldier, some deeper part of him whispered and it wasn't as easy for him to quiet it this time.)

Which was where the mistake was made.

"I guess you'd know, huh?"

Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no.

He hadn't... he hadn't meant to say that. Oh god, he hadn't meant to say that.

"What," Keith began, his voice cold as ice, "-is that supposed to mean?"

"I just-" Hunk stammered, suddenly, desperately wishing that he was literally anywhere but here.

"Hunk." Keith raised his voice, tone growing more insistent. "What did you mean by that?"

Deflating, Hunk felt his shoulders sag. God, if he was wrong, he'd feel so bad, but now that it was out in the open, he was overcome with the burning desire to know.

He tried to rationalize it as being for Keith's sake- the whole no secrets thing- but he knew that part of it was just him being curious.

The other part of him wanted Keith to say no.

"It's my mom." He told him, watching as Keith's brows knit in confusion. "She's a combat medic, so she... she sees a lot of war zones and stuff. She... she doesn't talk about it often, but she does, sometimes, and it's just..."

"...you just kind of remind me of that." He finally said. "I- you can get mad at me all you want if I'm wrong, or hell, even if I'm right, but I just... you've seen war before, haven't you?"

Each second that passed in silence was like an eternity of agony, sweat trickling down the back of his neck. He swore he could hear his heart hammering in his chest, so loud that he wouldn't be surprised if Keith could hear it too.

Keith drew back. He didn't shrink back, he just... drew back.

"Is... is that why you don't want to do the mind meld?" Hunk asked, voice hesitant.

For a long moment, Keith said nothing, did nothing- before he finally let out a sigh. It almost sounded like he was resigning himself, and he couldn't help but feel a surge of guilt at that, wondering if he'd forced him into a metaphorical corner. "How much do you know?"

"I mean, I haven't figured out which conflict," and for a moment, he could have sworn he almost saw a flicker of relief in Keith's eyes at that which... yikes, was it really that bad? "-but I know it doesn't change the fact that we're buds."

And at that, Keith simply looked perplexed. "You barely even know me. How can we be friends?"

"I mean... sure, maybe I don't know a whole lot about you, but I know that you're not a bad guy." Hunk told him.

"I wanted to abandon Allura." Keith pointed out. "You sounded pretty upset about that."

"I mean, yeah, I was but... you were just thinking of the team, right?" Hunk ventured. "Turns out, you were probably right, charging into Central Command was a terrible idea."

He let out a snort at that, and Hunk felt himself relax upon hearing it. "Now you get it."

"Yeah, yeah, now I get it." Hunk said, giving him a small smile.

Keith glanced up at him, violet eyes peeking out from behind a mess of bangs. It was hard to think sometimes, that this was the same guy who'd hit level thirteen on the training bots, but that lithe form had muscle to it.

Not to mention scars.

He wondered if they ever hurt.

"So uh," shifting nervously on his feet, Hunk twiddled his thumbs together, "-if you ever like, need to talk, you know where to find me."

For a brief moment, he could have sworn that Keith smiled, like really smiled- but it was gone fast enough that it could have just been his imagination. "I'll keep that in mind."

Maybe he wasn't sure if Keith's smile was real or not, but his sure as heck was. "You know, if you need a place to sleep, I'm sure Yellow would let you in."

"I don't think that would work." Keith told him. "Thanks, though."

Face falling, Hunk felt his shoulders slump. "Oh."

"Don't worry about me, I'll find a place to hunker down." Keith told him.

"I mean... you could always try like, your room?" Hunk ventured.

For a split second, he could have sworn that Keith hadn't even so much as considered that. If he didn't know where it came from, it might have been funny.

But knowing... it was stupid, maybe. Keith didn't need protecting, least of all by him. He'd faced Zarkon and lived- sure, he'd been in a lion at the time, but he was pretty sure he'd have just quaked in his boots at the mere sight of him.

Keith hadn't hesitated.

It was as impressive as it was terrifying.

(Child soldier, some darker part of him whispered, and he tried not to dwell on what that meant.)

"Yeah," tilting his head, Keith frowned, "-I guess maybe I could try that."

Staggering into his quarters, Keith lingered only long enough to lock the door this time, before collapsing into his largely unused bed.

Hunk knew- maybe not the whole truth, but too much of the truth. Rolling over, he fixed his gaze on the ceiling, as if trying to map out every detail. Was it... was he that obvious?

God, of course he was. Back on Earth they never would have gotten the chance to notice, but out here, thrust back into the same war he had been fighting most of his life, it was obvious.

He just considered himself lucky that Hunk seemed to think he'd been involved in some kind of Earth conflict. Did Earth even have conflicts? From what he'd seen of it, it was peaceful- but then, he'd never exactly paid much attention.

If Hunk knew, did everyone else know? Sitting up, he crossed his legs in front of him, hand darting into the space between the mattress and the wall. Using his fingers, he dug out the section that he had loosened, pulling out the small chunk of wall and removing the contents from within.

He'd bugged the castle-ship for a reason.

He half wanted to sleep, but didn't give into it just yet. Inserting the earpieces into his ears, he switched on the device, checking the bugs- starting with the one on the bridge.

No chatter there now- must be empty. Scrolling back, he flipped back to when they had first gone through the wormhole, starting to listen from there.

And was... thoroughly perplexed for awhile. Allura hadn't mentioned the time loop.

Eventually, he picked up on the part where they had first located Pidge- and it wasn't long before they had all gotten settled back on the castle-ship that the topic of him had come up.

He'd expected... he didn't know, something more confrontational. He hadn't expected that Allura, of all people, would sound so worried about him- they weren't exactly close.

At least Coran and Pidge hadn't told her much, just enough to sate her curiosity. Leaning back against the wall, he let out a breath of relief, but didn't stop there.

Glancing down at his right hand as he listened, Keith frowned. It seemed like the mottled purple color was going to stick, but at least it hadn't advanced. If it was going to do so, it probably already would have. Still, he could only hide it under the pretense of it being hurt for so long- he'd have to think of some other way to hide it.

Maybe he could ask Coran. He was a bit hesitant to do so, but the man hadn't betrayed him thus far, so perhaps he could rely on him just a bit.

It was so strange, the idea of relying on others. To be a Blade was to be self-sufficient. On base, there was nothing wrong with asking for a helping hand, but on a mission, you could only count on yourself.

For him, this was a mission.

For the paladins... he'd never really thought about it, but for them, this wasn't a mission.

No wonder his experience with war was so transparently obvious. He was constantly in mission mode, while they weren't.

So much for blending in, he thought with a snort. He sucked at being human.

And yet, they had accepted him anyways.

And here he was, spying on them.

Closing his eyes, the sting of guilt was stronger than it had ever been- but he knew the moment that the truth came out, everything would change.

And part of him... part of him didn't want to lose it, not just yet.