Chapter Nineteen

A Vaccine, a Truce, and a Punishment

Voltron had won. They had lost a lot of people, so many people were dead or injured, but they had won. The Galra were scattered, divided, leaderless. Zarkon's body was burned without ceremony, far away in the desert. The Voltron casualties were burned in the camp, the final sign of respect to keep them from turning after death.

Keith was bedridden and Pidge had to wear a sling, but it could have been worse. It could have been so, so much worse. Keith felt a little guilty for being happy his group had survived when so many others had not, but he couldn't help it. He was happy that despite all of the death around them, his little family was still together, still whole.

One week after the battle, Keith dragged himself from bed to attend Rolo's trial. It was technically open for the whole camp, but not many of the survivors attended. It seemed most of them just wanted to forget and move on. Keith didn't. He wanted to know why.

It seemed the rest of his group felt the same, as they all left their house at the same time, not speaking as they made their way to the front of the central building where Allura and Coran were waiting with the prisoner. Only three or four other members of the camp showed up.

Rolo was kneeling on the ground before Allura, head bowed and hands bound. Probably unnecessary, as he'd been practically catatonic ever since the battle. Since Nyma died.

"Why did the two of you betray us?" Allura asked, voice sharp and cold as a blade slicing through the air. Rolo kept his defeated gaze on the dirt.

"We didn't have a choice." he sounded robotic in his grief. "The Galra have our… my son. They would've killed him if we didn't do what they say."

Coran's face softened, but Allura's lip just twitched a little.

"You should have told us." she said. "We could've helped you."

Rolo scowled, the first emotion he's shown this whole time.

"And risk them finding out and hurting him? No. But now it doesn't matter. Nyma's gone and I'll never see him again."

Allura paused, seeming to think, and then stepped forward. Rolo cautiously looked up, expression guarded.

"We should kill you for what you did." she said harshly, and Rolo's eyes dulled. "But that wouldn't be fair to your son. And I think… I think Nyma's death was enough punishment."

Rolo blinked, not understanding. Keith looked at Allura. He couldn't say he disagreed with her decision, but he couldn't say he agreed either. Still, he didn't have any better ideas and he wasn't in charge, so he kept his mouth shut.

"We will release you." declared Allura. "And you may attempt to find your son. But you may never return to Arus."

That wasn't the only momentous occasion that took place after the defeat of the Galra. Once Allura had perfected the vaccine, she gathered a group together including Keith and his friends and set out for the Garrison.

"We need help administering the vaccine." she explained to them. "And they may have some military connections to get it spread across the country."

So they went. It took a lot of finagling to get Iverson to agree to a meeting, and the negotiations after that to get the vaccine deployed took even longer. Days, in fact. Allura had to prove it worked, then she had to prove she wasn't going to use it to her advantage, then she had to negotiate terms for their alliance.

Keith wasn't allowed into the negotiation room with Allura and Shiro, and he was ok with that. He wasn't diplomatic enough for politics. So he spent their time there hanging out with Pidge and Hunk and Lance, talking and exploring the Garrison. He spent even more time sitting outside the negotiation room, just thinking.

What would the world be like after this? Would it take decades for the vaccine to get spread everywhere it needed to? Would it take centuries for the fungus to be completely eradicated? Even if it didn't take so long, how quickly would the world go back to normal? Would it go back in his lifetime? Would it ever?

How would the history books remember this time? Would it be romanticized like the Wild West? Memorialized like the Holocaust? Would anyone remember the Galra and what they did to him and his brother and everyone else? Maybe they wouldn't remember any of it, maybe they'd move on and pretend the world didn't end for almost two years.

What would happen to him and his friends? Would anyone remember his parents, or Pidge's, or Hunks? Would Lance ever find his dad again? Would he or Shiro or any of the others be able to go a single night without waking up in cold sweats, or would these events follow them forever?

There were so many questions, and this was the apocalypse, so there were answers for precisely fuck all. But for once he knew it wasn't going to stay that way, and for the first time in god knows how long, he felt hope rising in his chest.

Hope was dangerous. It was painful. It could be fatal. But now he couldn't help it. He hoped Allura would get Iverson to help them. He hoped the fungus could be destroyed forever. He hoped they could all be happy again.

The world had ended, and now he was hoping they could bring it back.

So Keith sat there against the wall, listening to the sound of voices coming from behind him. He sat and thought and rubbed his thumb over his knuckles. And as the sound of his friends footsteps approached him, he hoped.

God, did he hope.

(A/N And that's a wrap folks! But worry not, this series isn't over yet, so keep an eye open. Thanks for sticking through all the way to the end!

UNC-

Silence)