Chapter Text
Allura, Shiro, Kolivan and Olia announced that after careful consideration, Lotor will be taken to the Castle of the lions and the interrogation will be held eight vargas later, giving them enough time to rest. The Blades and rebels were soon informed and permitted to stay on the ship until further notice.
Soon they were all en route to the Castle.
Everyone was tired- no scratch that, they were thoroughly exhausted. They wanted nothing but to hit the bed and sleep for eternity. Little did they know, the universe already had plans for them.
As soon as they touched the hangar, Matt’s voice crackled through their comms.
“Team Voltron, do you copy?”
Chaos.
Is the only word that could fully describe what happened after Matt told them that, it's about Keith and that he tried to do something wrong.
He didn't tell them the details.
That left everyone bewildered. Matt’s call implied that something was wrong, that much was clear and Keith was somehow related to it, which also meant that there was a possibility that he was not OK. This was enough to set them running towards where they last saw Matt’s ship about to land.
Everyone started shooting questions as soon as they saw Matt, he was already heading towards where they all assumed Keith would be.
“Matt! Wait up!”
“Matt! Slow down, we need to talk!”
“You said that it's about Keith? Is he alright? Had he done something wrong?”
“Matt! Would you just tell us?!”
The person in question abruptly stopped in his tracks, bringing their chase to a stand still.
“Do you guys consider Keith as a part of your family?” Matt asked, keeping his back towards them.
Confusion flashed on their faces. Lance stepped forward “Wha- What do you mean? Of Course we do.”
“Then make sure to tell him that.”
Keith had closed off his comms promptly after Kolivan had relayed the message to him and told him that he is required to stay on the Castle until the issue about Lotor is resolved.
Keith had just came out of the cockpit of his ship, when he heard distant voices continuously shouting Matt’s name. As the voices kept on getting louder and closer Keith turned to see what was going on.
Turning around, he saw Matt entering the hangar with the whole team Voltron in his tow, which wouldn't have been weird, if they all didn't look completely lost.
Something is wrong.
The reason why Matt was mad and headed straight towards him with a look that clearly said ‘ You.are.dead!’ was unnerving.
“There you are, you Quiznack!”
Frowning, Keith asked “Matt? Guys what’s going on? Weren't you all supposed to put Lotor in a cel-”
“You stupid little shit! I thought that you of all people would have far greater survival instincts but noooo You just proved me wrong by pulling that reckless stunt!” Matt continued to shout at Keith. “What were you thinking trying to pull a stunt like that?! I almost thought I lost you there!”
“...Matt?”
Pidge never thought she would see the day where Matt would go shouting on someone. He always kept his cool no matter the situation. Seeing him this enraged told Pidge that whatever Keith did was a grave mistake. Pidge musing was cut short as Shiro stepped ahead of her “What do you mean? What did Keith do?”
“Wha- What's going on?” Hunk hesitantly inquired.
“Yeah, I think it's about time you tell us.” Lance said while Pidge tried to make heads and tails of the current situation. She had never seen him look this mad in ages.
Shiro saw Keith’s expression quickly shifting from a frown to shocked then to full-blown panic and finally settled on anger.
‘Huh? He does this when he is hiding something really important.’ Shiro thought that as he saw emotions flickering on Keith’s face.
Gesturing towards Keith with both hands Matt began “Keith here, thought that is was a good idea to sacrifice himself by flying his galra cruiser into the barrier surrounding the ship Haggar was on. On which our weapons were practically useless!”
Everything froze.
It felt like the universe shattered. Their whole world crumbled. Everyone stood there, their breath caught up in their throat as they stared at Keith, horrified. Nobody moved, trying to wrap their head around what Matt just revealed to them.
“Keith is what Matt’s saying true?”
Shiro’s calm voice broke them from their daze. It was a wonder how Shiro was able to keep his cool in this kind of situation.
“Are you implying that you don't believe in what I just said?!” Matt said, looking betrayed.
“No Matt! That's not what I meant. I do believe in what you just said but I need to hear this from Keith himself.” Shiro reassured him as he made eye contact with Keith who was uncharacteristically quiet.
“Tell me Keith is what Matt saying true?”
Crossing his hands, Keith looked directly at Shiro “.... What if I say Yes?”
That reply was all it took for everyone to lose their patience. Surprisingly, it was Allura who burst out first “Why did you even thought about doing something so outrageous?!”
“I don't understand why you guys are getting so worked up! I did what I had to, alright? Our weapons were not working at all, and we had to take the shield down somehow so-” Keith tried to counter but was swiftly cut off by Pidge.
“So you thought that if you could somehow cause an explosion by ramming your ship into the shield, it will go down?” Pidge surmised.
“Keith our weapons were having no effect on it. So what made you think that the explosion would have worked? There was no guarantee!” Matt needed him to understand that he was going to die a meaningless death.
“I wasn't going to just sit and watch. Whole ten solar systems were in danger. The whole Coalition! And amidst it all there was Voltron, blades and you guys, everything that we worked so hard for was going to disappear right in front of me!” Keith was seething.
“Keith, that doesn't change that what you did was completely reckless, without any concern for your own life!” Shiro tried his best to keep his cool but, he too was reaching his limit.
“It was better than doing nothing. Our weapons were useless on that force field, so I thought that maybe an explo-”
“You were going to ram your ship into the barrier on the off chance that it ‘Might’ have worked? Are you seriously kidding me?!” Lance shrieked.
Keith snapped his jaw shut as he glared at Lance. Shiro was pretty sure Keith was grinding his teeth. “So, what do you want me to do just sit there and do nothing at all while everything we worked so hard at, disappears right in front of my eyes?!”
“Surely, you could have ejected yourself before your ship crash into the barrier?” Allura argued.
“Allura has a point there.” Hunk interjected.
“The resulting explosion from the collision would have wiped me out before I could have gotten somewhere safe.” He replied Allura through clenched teeth.
Clenching his fists, Keith closed his eyes and inhaled deeply “Ok, let's just say that what I did was wrong if you were in my place what would you have done?” Keith challenged.
“Of course, I would have thought about another wa-”
“THERE WAS NO TIME!!! THE BOMB WAS TICKING!! EVERYTHING WAS ON THE LINE, MATT!! IF I DIDN'T DO SOMETHING, EVERYTHING WAS GOING TO DISAPPEAR IN FRONT OF MY EYES!!” Keith practically roared.
At that everyone went quiet, because Keith was right, there was no time, it was literally a do-or-die situation.
After taking a few breaths he continued, faintly
“Why don't you guys understand? It was the only option in that situation! I did what had to be done.” Keith voice quivered as his body trembled. “I'm tired of losing people.”
The last statement was spoken so softly that if they had not been paying attention, they would have missed it. Keith sounded as if he was in a lot of pain.
Keith’s eyes burned as he felt his breathing getting erratic and his felt his throat constrict.
I said I wasn’t going to cry!
With a growl of frustration, Keith spined on his heel and started walking away from them.
I don't want to deal with this! I will not breakdown in front of them!
He had just barely taken a few steps away from them when someone tackled him to the ground and wrapped their arms tightly around his waist, holding onto him with all their strength.
Keith quickly shot up, his first instinct was to break free of the grip and run, as he struggled to free himself from the grip of death, he realised that it was actually Pidge who was holding onto him.
“I understand.” Pidge voice came out muffled, as she continued to bury her face into Keith’s back.
“What?” All heads turned towards Pidge, looking at her incredulously, while Keith tried to turn his head around in a failed attempt to see Pidge face.
“I'm completely with Keith on this one, because I know, how it feels to be faced with a situation where neither of the choices are desirable.” she mumbled. “And I'm sure all of you had similar experience at some point in your life too.”
A moment of silence passed as they all stood there, speechless.
Lance stepped forward “Yeah. I guess, you are right. You guys are way important to me than this universe, for you guys I would have done that too.” Lance declared.
“Pidge is right. It isn't preferable but, I would have done the same too.” Hunk said as he sheepishly scratched his neck.
Did they really understand?
Keith thought as he blankly stared at them.
Shiro, Matt and Allura all shared a look before Shiro proceeded to sit near him. Seeing this Pidge finally let go of Keith, but she instantly latched onto his hood.
Shiro placed both of his hands on Keith’s shoulders, as he began “Keith, I need you to understand that just as you are afraid of losing us, we are afraid of losing you.” Shiro paused, letting the words sink in. “Do you know why you distanced yourself from us? Why were you afraid of us rejecting you? Its because you care about us more than you seem to think, but, you failed to notice that, we also love and care about you just as much, and would never push you away no matter what happens.” Shiro somehow always seemed to know what Keith might be thinking.
“Yeah, even if you somehow end up killing someone.” Hunk continued as he sat on the ground in front of Keith.
“Yeah not even if this ‘someone’ turns out to be Lance.” Pidge quickly added while shouting a grin at Lance.
“Hey!” Lance yelled indignantly as he glared daggers at Pidge.
Everyone chuckled at that.
As he looked around, he realised that everyone had already sat down in front of him. Allura and Matt were on either side of Shiro, whereas Lance was on Allura’s right and Hunk was on Matt’s left.
Keith saw as Allura took one of his hand in her own while covering it with the other. Allura lifts her gaze to him as she began “Keith please come back to Voltron” suddenly shaking her head, she adds “No, What I meant to say was: Come back to ‘Us’. I finally got a family of my own and I will do everything to keep them safe. I think I speak for all when I say that we are a family and whether you like it or not, you are a part of this family just as much as the others.”
“Yeah man, our space family feels incomplete without its emo member.” Lance proclaimed as he flashed Keith a lopsided grin.
“...family?” Keith asked as he blankly stared at them.
“Duh! We all are, like a big family, sure we are a bit weird, but we are still a family, you know?”
The puzzled look on Keith’s face said otherwise.
Keith furrowed his brows “No. I don't and last time I checked I wasn’t blood related to anyone.”
This clearly implied that he needed someone to spell it out for him, so Matt took it upon himself. “Keith, family isn’t always blood related it's made up of people who accept you for whom you are, they stand by you in the hard times, they never give up on you and most important of all, they will never push you away.”
“...I can't be of use to anyone right now but you still want me back?”
“We don't need anything from you in return, that’s how a family works.” Shiro explained.
“Keith, a family, loves unconditionally without expecting anything in return.” Lance added.
Keith’s eyes were shining with unshed tears.
“You...will never...push me away?” his voice cracked painfully on every word.
At that everyone softly smiled, and replied altogether, Firmly “Never!”
The confidence with which it was said made Keith tear up instantly. He doubled over, burying his eyes in the palms of his hands, trying to stop the tears that dripped down his cheeks as his body kept on shuddering uncontrollably.
Shiro was the first one to wrap Keith in a tight embrace, kissing his forehead, he said “It's OK to cry Keith, you have us now, we are not going to judge you for it, We love you far too much to do that. So, you can be as ugly as you like and I promise you we would still love you just as much as we did before.”
Soon, everyone’s face had tears streaming down, they all sat there wrapping him in their warmth, while he sat there screaming silently as tears kept streaming down his face. They were willing to keep this up until his tears stops flowing, until his body stops trembling, until he thinks that it is safe to sleep with them watching over him, until he stops pushing them away, until he starts to trust and confide in them. So, till that time comes, they will all keep holding onto him and will continue to do so until they wither away and die. They will never let go of him since he is one of them and they're his.
Keith woke up as felt someone move him. He cracked open his eyes and the first thing he saw as he focused his eyes, was Shiro’s face, which meant that Shiro was the one carrying him. Above Shiro’s head he could see the lions standing proudly.
Keith clearly remembers hearing the distinct roar of lions and a flash of light before drifting off to sleep.