It's time... space mall time, at least! This chapter was super fun to write, as to be expected. Definitely a lot easier than the last chapter was, at any rate! Read on for more of Keith's disguising eating habits and also his criminal lifestyle, exposed. Putting those Blade of Marmora skills to work!

Until next time~!

maroon

chapter eleven

mall

Several things went through Shiro's mind as he watched the red lion dock, but chief among them was that he and Keith clearly needed to talk.

He hadn't even known that Keith was worried there was a chance that Zarkon might be tracking him. It made some sense, he guessed- he'd be the one to fight him back when they'd rescued Allura, but beyond that, he couldn't even begin to guess why. He was sure Keith had a reason for it, one that made perfect sense to him, but what that reason could be, he couldn't even guess.

He was just glad that he was wrong.

Even if it did mean that Zarkon was tracking them through the black lion after all. That was something he would have to deal with, but right now the more pressing concern was Keith. There was the matter of Allura too, but he'd leave that one to Coran.

Besides, he wanted to talk to Keith in private, away from prying ears. His best chance to do that was while he was changing out of his paladin armor, before they all reconvened on the bridge.

"Any chance we could talk?"

He hadn't realized it until Keith flinched at the question, but in hindsight, he realized that what he'd done was basically corner him. Though it hadn't been intentional, he guessed that didn't so much matter at this point.

"Sure," Keith didn't quite look at him, instead shaking out his hair, now free of his helmet, "-we can talk."

Frowning, Shiro leaned back against the wall, watching as Keith steadily removed pieces of his armor. The chest plate came off first, but not before he pulled his knife from it, followed shortly by his gauntlets- including the one that Coran had to repair. He guessed it had to do something with the bandage on his right hand, but he hadn't asked.

"You know," Shiro began, "-you could have always come and talked to me."

Glancing back towards him, Keith's expression was blank. "Didn't have the chance."

Heaving a sigh, Shiro felt his shoulders slump. "Look Keith, I'm not saying that what you did was entirely wrong. Maybe not the best idea, but I know you were just thinking of the team."

That gave him some pause, Keith's brow furrowing. "I wasn't doing it just for the team."

Lifting his brows, Shiro studied him. "I'm guessing by that you mean the Blade of Marmora."

Nodding his head, Keith peeled off the underlayer of his armor, exposing the t-shirt he wore underneath. He was readily familiar with the scars that lined his arms, but knowing where they came from now put them in a whole new context.

Before coming to Earth, Keith had lived a lifetime of war. No small wonder he had been on his guard at all times, even back at the Garrison.

Hunk's theory hadn't been wrong, not exactly- except for the part where he'd never left the war behind him. He was still fighting it, just in a different way than he had before.

"If Zarkon was tracking me," Keith began, "-it's not just the team I could put at risk. It's-"

He stopped himself short, brow crinkling, like he'd thought better about what he was going to say. "I can't risk exposing the Blade. Between you and Coran, I've-"

"Wait." He didn't mean to cut Keith off, but he couldn't stop himself. "Coran?"

Chewing on his lip, Keith seemed to wince. "He ah, knows. About me."

Arching his brows, Shiro felt himself frown. That was the first he'd heard about this- he'd have never guessed it from the way Coran acted. "For how long?"

"Since the Balmera?" Keith told him.

Ah. Yeah, that made sense. They had left Keith in his care back then. In hindsight, maybe not the best choice- but he hadn't known back then what he knew about him now. Though based off the fact that Keith's secret was still, well, a secret, he was going to assume that things had turned out okay in the end.

"Anyone else who might know?" Shiro asked.

Shaking his head, Keith frowned. "No. No one."

"I'm sensing a but."

"I think," brows furrowing, Keith did his best to avert his gaze, busying himself with removing the rest of his armor, "-I think maybe you're right."

"That's specific." Shiro observed.

Keith shot him a glare, to which he merely shrugged his shoulders. Sensing that he was going to make him come out and say it, he heaved a long sigh, grabbing his boots and yanking them back on. "About telling the truth."

He'd kind of suspected it was that, yeah. Still, nice to have him come out and say it.

"You're sure?" Shiro asked. "Because while I think it would be a good idea, I also don't want to put pressure on you."

"Honestly?" Back to chewing on his lip, Keith frowned. "I'm not sure. I mean, I was earlier, but I've had some time to cool off since then. But I think- I think if we want to make this alliance work, then we need to be honest with each other. I need to be honest."

Nodding his head, Shiro didn't fight the urge to smile, feeling a bud of pride in his chest. Secret alien or not, Keith was still the kid he'd mentored for a year and a half, so he was proud he was even thinking about taking such a big step.

"What does Kolivan think about this?" Shiro asked.

"I uh, haven't told him yet." Keith admitted. "Actually, I kind of... haven't told him about you yet, either. He knows about Coran, so I kind of just figured that... look, in my defense, I wasn't exactly trained for deep cover missions."

"Hey," holding up his hands, Shiro fought the urge to chuckle, finding something vaguely endearing in the way he was so quick to defend himself, "-you don't need to defend your skills to me. But you probably should tell him."

Looking unconvinced, Keith grabbed his belt, hooking it around his waist, before he sheathed his knife back behind him. It was only then that he took notice of the fact that Keith's right hand wasn't currently bandaged- and based on the way Keith quickly concealed it from view, he was guessing he'd only just realized that himself.

Was that... was that purple?

"...druid." Keith muttered, as if that somehow explained everything. He knew what one was, of course- they had always been in Haggar's company, so even with his patchy memory, he still sort of remembered what they were. "I'm fine, just... not something I thought people should see."

Ah. Well, he'd suspected for awhile now that Keith was masking his true appearance somehow, but it looked like he was right on the money. Guess he really was purple.

"So you're...?"

Chancing a look up at him, Keith frowned. "Yeah."

"Huh." Blinking, he felt himself frown. "I didn't even know Galra could do that."

"They can't." Keith told him. "Just- I'm using something. That's why I'm, you know..."

"...human?" Shiro finished, to which Keith quickly nodded. "Huh. Guess that explains that."

Keith arched his brows at that. "You're taking this well."

"I mean, you already told me you were Galra." Shiro said with a shrug. "I just kind of assumed you were hiding it somehow. Either that, or you were part human."

Keith seemed to grimace. "No offense, but I'll take being Galra over being human any day. I really don't understand how you managed to become the dominant species on your planet."

"We're just really good at not dying, I think." Shiro told him.

He meant it as a joke, but Keith actually seemed to consider it. He wondered if this was just a Galra thing, or if Allura and Coran thought of them that way too. "Hm. Guess that's fair."

Unable to help himself, Shiro let out a snort, causing to Keith to blink, clearly baffled by what had brought it on. "Come on," Shiro said, "-we should probably join the others on the bridge. We need to talk about our next plan of action."

Keith almost looked like he wanted to say something, but instead gave him a curt nod of his head. "Yeah, okay. Just let me get some bandages first."

Arching a brow, Shiro glanced back at him. "Still hiding it?"

"For now, at least." Keith told him. "Just want some time to figure out what I'm going to say, that's all. Also, you're right, I probably should tell Kolivan first."

"You know if you need someone to run it by..."

"...I can talk to you?" Keith finished.

"Now you're starting to get it."

As soon as the words Unilu swap moon left Coran's mouth, he had to bite back the urge to chime in. It wasn't that he thought Coran's idea was bad, just... he was pretty sure that things had changed in the past ten thousand years.

In fact, based off the pictures Coran showed them, he knew for a fact that things had definitely changed.

But that was just yet another thing he couldn't give voice to without blowing his cover, and there wasn't exactly a chance to pull Coran aside and warn him. Besides, if he was going to be honest, part of him almost wanted to see his reaction to just how much things had changed from how they were back in the day.

Plus, the other paladins realizing that they had disguised themselves for nothing? Yeah, okay. That was funny. He'd admit it.

"If I'd known this place was just going to be the space equivalent of a mall, I wouldn't have even bothered changing." Pidge quipped, already shedding parts of her disguise.

"Yeah, Keith had the right idea." Lance said. "I mean, for once."

Frowning, Keith glowered at the blue paladin. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I think you know exactly what I mean by that." Lance shot back.

"Guys, let's not fight." Hunk interjected. "You heard Coran. We only have a varga."

"Yeah, we need to find those lenses, or we're as good as dead in the water." Pidge added. "Does anyone have any idea where to start looking?"

"...we could try checking the map?" Keith suggested, motioning towards it with his head.

"Which would be a great idea, if any of us could read that alien gibberish." Lance pointed out. "But we can't, so yeah, not happening."

Oh, right. He'd nearly forgotten none of them could read Common.

"Yeah," Keith frowned, "-guess we should just split up, like Coran said."

That said, he didn't exactly have any idea either. The last time he'd been here, it was when he was thirteen cycles old, right before his mother had left on her deep cover mission. There had still been an Unilu swap shop left open back then, but he had no idea if that held true now.

Or even where it was.

He hadn't exactly been paying attention. It wasn't like it had been a mission or anything. He'd just tagged along with Regris, who wanted to try his luck at getting some parts for some kind of project he'd been working on.

(It wasn't like they never had downtime.)

Guess he could just look around till he found it.

...actually, come to think of it, none of them had any money, did they? He didn't think they had anything of value worth trading either so... huh. Guess first things first, he'd better find some.

"Your show was absolutely wonderful, friends!"

Clapping her hands, Allura beamed with glee, watching as the mice each took a bow. After the show they had put on, they had more than earned it- though she did wonder when they had learned to put on music and change the lights like that.

They were clever, she knew, so it didn't truly surprise her.

"Now," she began, peering down at them, "-I do not suppose you have picked up any new secrets, have you?"

The mice were more than ready to provide. Perhaps her love for gossip was not exactly the most regal of qualities, but she could not deny her own curious streak. Though she had grown quite close to the paladins- or well, most of them, she noted, her thoughts briefly drifting towards Keith- it was still not quite the same as it had once been.

Besides, being left alone on the Castle like this was dreadfully boring. She had to entertain herself somehow.

All she had wanted to do was go and buy something sparkly for herself, but she supposed Coran was right. She did need to rest.

Letting out a faint laugh as she listened to the mice, Allura felt herself smile. "Pidge did what? Well that certainly explains her appearance at dinner the other day. I had been wondering about that. And yes, that sounds very much like Lance."

Come to think of it, the mice never told her anything about Keith. She knew he could be elusive, but the mice could go to parts of the ship none of them could access, so surely they must run into him from time to time.

"What about Keith?" She asked. "Do you know any of his secrets?"

She didn't actually know if he had secrets, or if he were merely mysterious as per his nature, but either way, she could not deny her curiosity. Especially since it seemed that he was closer to Coran than she would have guessed, seeing as he'd apparently asked him about the paladins of old at some point.

While he seemed to have made that explanation in haste, she'd no reason to doubt it. After all, it wasn't as if she'd asked Coran not to say anything. And Keith had been the one to face Zarkon, and therefore, the first one to put two and two together and realize that he was the former black paladin- so if anything, it made perfect sense why he would be curious.

If anything, she wondered why the rest of the paladins weren't.

For a second, all the mice did was look at each other. Perhaps Keith really was as elusive to them as he was to the rest of them. An impressive feat, to be sure.

But apparently, one of the mice did, in fact, have something to say.

"Wait," brows drawing together, for a moment, Allura wasn't sure she'd heard it right, "-Keith's hand is what?"

"...hunk, what are you doing?"

Oh man, was he ever glad to hear that voice. Sure, it could stand to be a little less incredulous, but- no yeah, he got it. He did. They had come here for scaultrite lenses, and here he was, chained up to a dishwasher in the food court.

So yeah. Maybe his tone actually wasn't incredulous enough.

...actually, what was Keith doing in the food court?

"Keith, oh thank god," Hunk pleaded, grateful that Sal had stepped into the back for the moment, "-you have to get me out of here."

Keith, bless his heart, just tilted his head, staring at him blankly. He leaned a bit against the counter, staring down at the cuff around Hunk's leg, then back up at him, arching his brows. "...did you get caught by a food court employee?"

"Yes, I got caught by a food court employee." Hunk stated bluntly. "Look, I thought it was a free sample, I didn't-"

It was then that he took notice that Keith seemed to be drinking something. Something, that even from the distance, looked absolutely repulsive. Which, granted, was pretty par for the course for Keith, given you know, his fondness for Garrison ration bars and the fact that he'd nearly eaten Coran's paladin lunch, but whatever he had in his hand was like... beyond that.

"...uh, what'cha got there buddy?" He asked, getting the feeling he was going to regret it.

"Meat." Keith told him.

"Meat." Hunk repeated. "You're drinking meat."

He couldn't for the life of him if it was audacity or obviousness that prompted Keith to take a sip of the thing right in front of him. "And various organs."

For a moment, his own situation completely forgotten, Hunk could only just stare at him. And here he thought he'd been making progress.

But no. Here he was, drinking a meat shake.

"Keith," deciding not to beat around the bush, oh no, not now, not while his friend was drinking meat, "-that's disgusting."

Keith just shrugged. "Tastes good."

Wow. That was. No amount of traumatic back story would ever suffice to explain just what was wrong with Keith's taste buds, because clearly, something had to be seriously wrong with them.

"So," arching a brow, Keith tilted his head, "-you want me to break you out or not?"

Putting aside the matter of Keith's terrible eating habits, Hunk just glanced down at his cuffs, wiggling his foot a little. "...yes, please."

Frowning, Keith set down his meat shake, before leaping over the counter without another word. Pulling out his knife- never thought he would be thankful for his habit of just carrying it everywhere- he severed the cuffs, before glancing over towards the other alien Sal had caught. "...so, should I free her too?"

That knife could really cut, huh. "Yes."

Shrugging his shoulders, Keith severed her cuffs too, before sheathing the knife. Which, he was gonna be honest- grateful as he was that he carried it around with him, he couldn't help but have bad memories of that thing, considering, yanno, the time he'd tried to kill him and all.

But hey, he wouldn't hold it against him- he'd been half asleep at the time, so it wasn't like he'd tried to kill him, specifically. But man, did he ever not want to get on Keith's bad side. If that was what he could do in his sleep, he didn't even want to know what he could do when he was awake.

Except he kind of did, sort of. Guess when you spent your childhood fighting for your life, you just sort of naturally got good at it.

...and that was a grim thought. His hugs couldn't cure that.

"Come on," Keith began, hopping back over the counter with that effortless grace of his, "-let's go find Lance and Pidge."

He did not, by the way, fail to notice that Keith had picked up his horrible meat shake again on the way out.

...actually, come to think of it, where the heck had Keith even gotten money for that thing?

"...why is Lance soaking wet?

"Yeah, and is that a cow?"

Both fair questions, Lance would admit. That said, he had one of his own. "Why is Hunk wearing an apron?"

"Yeah, and what the heck is Keith even drinking?" Pidge chimed in.

"Ugh trust me, you don't want to know." Hunk told her, scrunching up his nose- and frankly, he'd just take his word for it. "But seriously, a cow?"

"It was free with purchase." Lance said with a shrug.

"So did you find the scaultrite lenses?" Keith asked, tilting his head, apparently just putting aside the question of the cow.

Oh. Right. Scaultrite. Yep, he knew he'd forgotten something. "Uh well, not exactly?"

"Is that a Mercury Gameflux 2?" Hunk asked.

"Yep!" Presenting her prize with absolutely no shame about how off task they had gotten, Pidge beamed. "With the original power glove."

"Not to mention a copy of Killbot Phantasm 1." Lance added- and hey, if Pidge wasn't going to be ashamed about it, why should he?

Keith just stared at them blankly, because of course he did. He'd make a comment about him growing up under a rock, but he guessed growing up in a war zone or whatever would like, have the same basic effect.

"It's a video game." Pidge supplied. "Plus a console to play it on."

"Wait, so it's Earth tech?" Keith asked, sounding confused. "Where did you even find stuff from Earth out here?"

"At the Earth store." Pidge supplied.

"...there's an Earth store." Keith deadpanned.

"Uh, yeah, is there like an echo in here or something?" Lance asked.

"Honestly, I'm more concerned about the cow." Hunk admitted. "Also where did you even get the money from for that thing? Cause last I checked, we had like, none."

"Turns out tossing money into mall fountains is universal." Pidge said.

"Huh," Hunk frowned, "-well I guess that explains why Lance is wet."

"What did you think I did, took a bath in the fountain?" Lance asked. "Also, if we're talking about money, shouldn't you ask where Keith got the money for... whatever that thing is?"

Seriously, what was that stuff? It looked like brown sludge.

"I thought we might need money for the scaultrite lenses," Keith stated simply, taking a sip of his mystery drink, "-so I found an off duty imperial officer and stole their wallet."

What.

"Keith!" Hunk gasped, frantically glancing around as if he expected mall security to emerge at any moment. "You can't just steal someone's wallet!"

Keith just frowned. "Lance and Pidge took money out of the fountain."

"Yeah, that people threw away!" Lance protested. "We're not- where did you even learn to pickpocket!?"

Oh wait. War orphan. Actually, yeah, that kind of made sense.

"...am I the only one not surprised by the fact that Keith stole someone's wallet?" Pidge chimed in. "I mean, how do you guys think he got money while he was living in the desert?"

"I don't know, a part time job?" Lance frowned.

"Right, because I can totally imagine Keith working as a cashier." Pidge noted dryly.

Which. Fair. He couldn't imagine that either.

"You know I'm standing right here, right?" Keith asked, before glancing away in what was the world's most obvious tell. "...though you're not exactly wrong."

"Keith," Hunk began, "-I won't judge you for stealing the wallet, or wallets, I guess, since you were apparently doing that back on Earth too? But you gotta put it back, man. Or like, at least bring it to the lost and found. Is there a lost and found here? There's gotta be a lost and found here."

"We don't have the time," Keith observed, "-pretty sure we're supposed to be meeting Coran in five doboshes."

"Oh come on, it can't be that-" Cutting himself off, Lance's brows knit together, checking the time, "-oh, huh. It really has been that long."

"Guess we should get going then." Pidge frowned. "I sure hope Coran had more luck then we did. I don't even think there are any of those swap shops left around here."

"...so we're just going to ignore Keith's theft then." Hunk noted. "Right, okay, I get it. But just for the record, I'm telling Shiro."

Keith just shrugged, the threat rolling off of him like... well, like it wasn't actually a threat.

Ugh, sometimes he seriously didn't get this guy.

She knew she was staring, but she simply could not help it. Not after what the mice had told her.

She had known for awhile now that Keith had injured his hand during their raid on the Galran transportation hub, but she'd never really gotten the specifics of it. All she knew was that Coran had needed to replace the right gauntlet on his paladin armor, and that the bandages had been lingering for far longer than she'd expected them too.

Each of those factors would suggest that perhaps his injury was more serious than he was letting on, but Keith never showed it. She had just spent five vargas with him, alone in a pod, so she felt confident that if it bothered him, she would have noticed.

Therefore, he must be wearing the bandage to hide something else.

Like his hand being purple.

That was, if what the mice had told her was true. And she had no reason to doubt it, or them.

She did have reasons to doubt Keith.

Not that she particularly liked the idea of it. Keith was a paladin of Voltron, chosen by her father's lion, nonetheless. If anything, she wanted to trust him. It was just... he made it rather difficult at times.

But while she did not consider herself an expert on human physiology, she was quite certain that they did not burn purple.

It probably would not have bothered her half as much were it not for the fact that she knew he'd fought one of those strange beings that had been in the company of Zarkon's witch. Shiro had called them druids, and it was clear that they were capable of using magic.

Dark magic.

If Keith had somehow been affected by that...

No. She would not think that. Perhaps- perhaps the mice had been wrong. Perhaps there was some other explanation for Keith's hand being purple.

Perhaps not.

Reflecting back on it, he did seem rather eager to defend the Blade of Marmora, but surely- no. She would not allow herself to think such things. Keith was a paladin- what she should be doing was placing her faith in him, as one of the defenders of the universe.

At the very least, Shiro had managed to deepen his bond with the black lion. Not to mention the fact that Coran had been able to find some scaultrite lenses, which meant they would be able to get the teleduv back up and running.

(Lance had found a creature called a cow, which was... bizarre, to say the least. At least she'd finally been able to find a use for the holodeck.)

Once Coran fixed up the teleduv, they would be heading to this Blade of Marmora base they had been given the coordinates for.

She was... unsure how to feel about that. Current doubts aside, what Keith had told her back in the pod did have merit- for a trap, it was awfully convoluted. Perhaps he was correct- perhaps she really could trust this Blade of Marmora.

But it still bothered her that there had been one caught sneaking around on her ship. Who knew what they could have done while they were there? Perhaps their intention to take down Zarkon was genuine, but what about after that?

With a slight frown, Allura watched as Keith exchanged a few brief words with Shiro, before excusing himself. Her gaze trailed after him, watching him as he left the bridge, unable to help but wonder just where it was he was going.

He felt himself exhale almost as soon as he left the bridge.

He was pretty sure Allura had been staring at him. He didn't know why- she hadn't been doing it before they had left for the swap moon, so he'd just assumed that things were fine between them. It was only after they got back that she'd started.

Frowning, he rubbed his right hand, glancing down at it. He really did need to tell everyone, before they got to the base- but first things first, he needed to contact Kolivan. Shiro was probably right- he probably should tell him that he'd blown his cover.

Again.

He definitely needed to tell him that they were on their way there. Like it or not, the alliance sounded like it was going to happen- at least, from their end.

Kolivan might have different feelings on the matter.

The red lion almost seemed to be waiting for him when he arrived. Giving it a small smile, he quickly made his way to the cockpit, curling up in the pilot's chair. He'd been in all the other lions except for the black lion, but being in Red was like nothing else.

It just felt right.

Digging out his transmitter, Keith put out a call to Kolivan, one that was quickly picked up.

"Kyix," Kolivan began, "-I did not expect your next transmission so soon."

"Yeah, well, a lot of things have happened." Keith told him. "We figured out how Zarkon was tracking us, for one."

"I take it that it is no longer a problem." Kolivan said.

"At least, I hope not?" Keith frowned. "He was using the black lion, and Shiro seems to have deepened his connection with it, so I'm pretty sure that takes care of that."

"But you are not one hundred percent certain." Kolivan observed.

"Maybe like ninety percent?" Keith ventured. "I don't know. The black lion is the one lion I haven't been in, so I don't have a real strong feeling for how it operates."

Kolivan seemed to accept that, giving him a curt nod of his head. "I take it there is yet more news."

Chewing on his lip, Keith nodded again. "We're heading towards the base."

He could have sworn that Kolivan's expression darkened. "I take it the black paladin intends to try and forge an alliance with us."

"He's pretty serious about it." Keith told him. "And he kind of ah... knows. About me."

He knew Kolivan could be stern, but at the moment, he just looked downright disapproving. "Kyix-"

"I know, I messed up." Keith cut him off. "I won't deny that. But look- if we're going to work together with the paladins, they have to know the truth. We can't just keep pretending that I'm something- someone- that I'm not."

He could only feel the weight of Kolivan's unblinking stare, fighting the urge to shift nervously in his seat. If this were a battlefield, not much would faze him, but it wasn't. Sure, it wouldn't exactly be the first time he'd done something to displease Kolivan- it wasn't even the first time he defied one of his direct orders.

But this was... this was different.

Because he knew what it had to look like- him being influenced by an outside force. He'd been trying not to think about it, but it was almost exactly like what happened with his father. Just because he was being influenced by the right side didn't change that fact.

Even if comparing Lotor and Shiro did make him sick.

(Come to think of it, did the princess even know about Lotor?)

But whatever the case, he was still loyal to the Blade of Marmora. So if Kolivan told him to hold his tongue, then he would. He couldn't- wouldn't- betray them.

He just hoped Shiro would understand that. He'd... kind of rather avoid telling him, and the rest of the team, about his father. It wouldn't exactly reflect well on him.

(The son of a traitor never sounded good, no matter what the context.)

"Very well."

For a second, he could have sworn that he hadn't heard Kolivan right.

"I will leave the decision on the matter up to you, Kyix." Kolivan merely stated.

"...so the alliance?" Keith ventured.

"It's being considered." Kolivan told him- and he got the feeling that was all he was going to get out of him. Still, just the fact that he was actually taking it in consideration was a huge step forward, compared to where he was on the subject not even all that long ago.

Freeing Olkarion and the Balmera, saving the Taujeerians, all must have reflected positively on the paladins. Not to mention, that with the lone exception of Shiro, they had all awoken hidden powers within their lions.

(It wasn't even fair to hold Shiro as the exception. The only reason he couldn't was because he lacked the black bayard.)

It was still kind of weird to think all of that also pertained to him. He could think of himself as a paladin in the vaguest sense, but probably not in the same way the others thought of themselves as one. He still wasn't some kind of a hero, not like the others were.

He was just a solider, that's all.

It wasn't like he thought less of himself, it was just... he'd spent so long in the shadows, that it was weird to be at the front and center like this. He wasn't sure if he'd ever get used to it.

But maybe that was a good thing. It meant he could do things the others couldn't. Shouldn't, even.

Swallowing, Keith just nodded his head. "Okay. Right- I'll tell them, then."

Just saying that made his right hand itch like crazy. He knew it was just his nerves- in spite of Shiro's reassurances, he knew that this had the potential to turn out very badly for him. But the last thing he wanted was for it to be revealed for him.

Not for a third time.

"Kyix," something in Kolivan's tone helped quell his nerves, a faint smile on the otherwise stern Galra's face, "-we look forward to your homecoming."

In spite of everything, he felt something in him soften at that statement. Home. He'd be going home.

...actually, wait a tick.

"...we?"

He could have sworn there was a faint trace of amusement in Kolivan's eyes as the screen shifted on his end- revealing Antok's unmasked, very amused face. "Youngling."

Keith, to his credit, merely stared blankly at the screen, wondering just how long he'd been there. For all he knew, he'd been there from the start. "Antok."

"Still as small as ever, I see." Antok remarked. "Did you grow at all while you were absent?"

Growling, Keith's brow furrowed. No, he hadn't. Nevermind the fact that nearly everyone was short when compared to Antok. "It's just the device getting in the way."

"If you insist, youngling." Antok told him, a certain humor in his voice.

Speaking of which...

"So, any chance I can get it taken out?" Keith asked, trying not to sound too hopeful. He wouldn't want to risk his chances.

The screen turned back to Kolivan at his question. "We will consider it."

Ugh. He didn't like that answer. He knew full well that even if the paladins knew the truth, there were still plenty of reasons to keep his true form hidden. He didn't like it, but there were.

Maybe- maybe- the team would accept him as Galra. He just didn't know how the rest of the universe would feel about that. There was a reason that the Blade of Marmora stayed hidden, and it wasn't just because of Zarkon.

"Understood." Keith said. "I should get back to the bridge."

"Understood." Kolivan replied. "We will see you soon, Kyix."

And at that, he couldn't help but smile. "Yeah. Looking forward to it."

He really, really was.

Home.