Thank you for the love, my dears! As always, feedback is endlessly appreciated.

**8**

Shiro's gaze is distant, looking over the forest below them. When he finally elaborates, his tone is soft and sad. "Zarkon used to be one of us, the strongest of the demon hunters. He was quick, clever, and strong, and had the respect of everyone who lived here. On the outside, he was the perfect member of our family.

"But he was greedy. His perfect control over shapeshifting wasn't enough for him, and he decided to try for witchery as well. But," a flash of humor, "as you know, men don't learn witchery. They're just not made for it. He wanted it, though. Badly enough to cast aside the traditions set in place before anyone can remember.

"Allura and I were very young at the time. Her mother was my guardian, and her father was my mentor. They were close with Zarkon, and thought they knew him well. They were used to seeing only one side of him, so when he started approaching the witches close in age they thought nothing of it. I don't know when they started to really pay attention, but it was too late. It would've been even if they had noticed. And it wasn't their faults; the change in Zarkon was entirely on the inside, so to them nothing was different.

"Zarkon was actually dating, at the time. There was a witch..." Shiro trailed off thoughtfully. "I don't remember her name. But she agreed to teach him what she had learned. It's just that it didn't quite... work.

"He really wasn't built for witch magic, but Zarkon was persistent. The witch studied with him and found a way for him to have both — but it twisted them both irreparably. Zarkon gained the ability to shapeshift into fantastical things: demonic things. And her part in it changed her, inside and out.

"They escaped into the forest together. A few weeks later, they attacked the house. People died. Coran and some of the others banished them eventually. After that… we don't really know. The witch came back after a few months and told us what she'd gone through, but there were some things she left out both about herself and about Zarkon. She wasn't the same -"

Here he stops and heaves a deep sigh. "Well. She didn't stick around. And neither did Zarkon."

Lance stares up at the sky, taking it all in. "Why did he attack you?" he asks finally. Hearing the whole thing was like listening to the It seems hard to imagine on a personal level. Like watching Shiro suddenly turn on them all after learning witchery, and dragging Allura off into the forest with her.

"I don't know," Shiro responds. He gets to his feet and stretches. "I try not to think about it often. What's past is past. No one's seen Zarkon since." He slants a look in Lance's direction. "I was serious about not telling everyone. This isn't a story we share lightly."

Lance starts and jerks away, mentally shoving away his dark thoughts and contemplations to deal with later. "Oh yeah, no - totally! I get it."

"Do you?"

"No…" He deflates. " I mean, why are you telling me this? I don't - get it." Unless he's caught on. But Lance was so careful. Aside from Pidge, no one knows.

Shiro shuffles his feet. He seems to be considering what to say next. "... I noticed you've been getting really close with Pidge lately and-"

"What!" Lance yelps, startled into going on the defensive. He jumps up from the log and takes a step back. "No. No! Pidge and I are just friends-"

"Lance-" Shiro cringes, raising one hand in supplication and facepalming with the other. "I wasn't talking about that. At all."

Lance flushes, unreasonably embarrassed considering neither of them were talking about that at all and fumbles for an answer as he backs away slowly. "Right, totally. I'm just gonna - go over there now. Good talk and all that, see you at the house!" he tosses over his shoulder. He hears his teacher's heavy sigh behind him.