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Keith tried to ignore the thunderous, echoing sounds of his steps as he walked through the antechamber of the New Altea Universal Embassy. He was flanked by 3 other Galra, one of them Kolivan, one another former Blade of Marmora member, and the other one of the strongest from the remnants of Zarkon’s Empire.
The one missing member of their party was like a constant ache in the centre of Keith’s chest, but it was better this way.
This was going to be painful enough as it was, no need to make matters worse.
The doors to the meeting chamber opened and Coran gave Keith and his retinue a small, tense smile, barely visible beneath his mustache. His three guards took up position behind his seat against the wall of the circular room.
It was better this way.
Keith ignored the scathing looks he got from the other 15 members around the circular table. Allura, directly across from him, stared him down.
“Thank you for inviting me, Queen Allura.” Keith intoned, and that seemed to break the rest of the council of 15 into action, scathing remarks and demands washing over where Keith and Allura never once broke eye contact, until Allura finally held up her hand to regain order.
“I’ve invited you, *Emperor*, because there are some things that must be negotiated.”
“We’ve already had peace negotiations, your *Majesty*.” Keith responded, trying to keep the scathing sarcasm out of his tone. They hadn’t *understood* when he had taken up the role as Emperor, and from all the arguments and negotiations that have been had since, he knew they wouldn’t ever get it.
What he would give…
What he was willing to do…
“It has come to our attention that the Black Lion is in your possession.” Allura said, body tight. “Which expressly goes against the weaponization clauses that *you*...”
“The Galra Empire has no WMD’s, Queen Allura.” Keith snapped, simply being in the same room, *feeling* Lance, Hunk, and Pidge’s glares echoing around his head already shortening his temper more than normal. “The treaty *we* all signed expressly forbid those of the Empire from having weaponized machines out of our territory, and we have *no* weapons outside of those needed to protect Galra space.”
“The Black Lion…”
“Is not out of our territory.”
The immediate whispers that followed as Keith confirmed that he did, indeed, have the Black Lion of Voltron echoed in his brain almost as much as the other paladin’s *anger*.
Allura held up her hand again, to call quiet back to the room, though it didn’t seem to do much good. “Which is why we have called this embassy meeting.” She took a breath. “We are to decide what to do with Voltron now that *peace* has been restored these past 5 cycles.”
Keith’s stomach dropped like a lead weight.
He *knew* this would happen.
He *knew* they were going to try…
“It has been voted that the Lions shall be returned to the Castle to be placed under lock down, and only able to be unlocked with a code delivered by a majority of members from the council, and the Paladins…”
“No.” Silence descended completely when Keith barked out his disagreement.
They were *never* going to understand…
He was doing his fucking *best*...
Pidge slammed her hands down on the table, all but yelling at Keith “You can’t keep Shiro *prisoner* you quiznacking…”
Keith stood from the chair, the guards from the other representatives all taking a step forward, Keith holding up his hand to keep his own guards from moving. He didn’t *want* a blood bath.
“My answer is ‘no’.” He all but growled out, panic beginning to choke him at the mere thought of what they were trying to do.
Allura stood as well, slow and regal, she put her hand out and Hunk pulled Pidge back with a hand on her shoulder. “You’re input is not *required*, Emperor. It has already been voted upon.”
He could still feel it all, pressure building behind his eyes and sliding sour down his throat.
Pidge’s rage, Hunk’s sadness, Lance’s disappointment.
Allura’s disgust.
He almost choked on it. The feelings, and he wanted to cut them all off…
But there, a faint spark that his heart was struggling to pump through his blood, was his reasoning for everything he did.
Concern. Confusion. Strength.
Love.
The Black Lion, and the last little bits of...
“Too bad.” Keith snapped, several members of the council balking at his tone. He wasn’t refined like all the other leaders at the table. He didn’t do the diplomacy thing. Hated dancing with the pomp and flair. Didn’t care to watch his tone.
He was a child born of nothing, and a leader born of war. An Emperor born of death.
If he had to remind them of that, then so be it.
He’d do *anything* to keep that little spark safe. Especially from the ones who would never understand what he did simply to keep it going.
Allura changed colours in her anger. “We would rather not spark another war…” she threatened.
Keith narrowed his eyes, leaning his gauntleted hands on the table, letting the weight of the cloak at his back press into him in a mimic of someone else’s embrace. “Then don’t. The Black Lion will remain with its Paladin.”
“Whom you will release from your custody!”
They were trying to pin him with their petty words, their diplomatic binds. He didn’t care. They always forgot that he was smart, thought that just because he was short tempered and hot headed that he couldn’t see the big picture.
That was always their first mistake.
“I think the Galra Empire wouldn’t take lightly to you *imprisoning* me, Queen Allura.”
His guards all stiffened and took a slight step forward, Allura’s eyes widening at the implication. “You will hand over the black paladin, Emperor Kogane. We are not threatening to take *you*...”
“I *am* the black paladin.”
The room seemed to completely freeze, eyes slowly tracking back and forth between Allura and Keith. The other paladins had fallen silent, Lance not bothering to hide his shock as his jaw slowly dropped open, realizing the implications before the others. “Shit.” Lance muttered, already seeing the check mate.
Keith looked at every other council member. “In case you forgot, Queen Allura, in my last role as a Paladin of Voltron *I* was as the Black Paladin. The Black Lion responds to *me*, so if you want the black Paladin to be on your beck-and-call, you’d have to keep *me* here.” The silence was stunned and resounding. “Now, if you’re *done* wasting my time, I have other things that need attending to.” He snapped, pushing back from the table and marching out.
No one stopped him on the way back to his ship, no one spoke as he let the Paladin’s dark emotions roll over him. It was nothing short of what he deserved. But they didn’t *understand*.
At this point, he hardly needed to be paying attention as he called orders out to his ship, got them into hyperspeed as soon as they had cleared Altean space around the Universal Embassy space station. Kept half an eye out in case there was an attempt to stop them, and didn’t let the tension drain from the line of his shoulders until they were far enough into space that he could hand control of the ship to Kolivan as he retired for a few hours.
Even then, the tension didn’t exactly *leave*.
The holoscreen flashed at him from the side of his desk, and he called the order to connect, not even being able to get out a greeting before the face on the other side began chastising him.
“You shouldn’t have left me behind.”
Some things never changed.
Keith sighed, glaring at the image on the screen. “I needed someone trustworthy to watch the Empire.” Keith lied.
A golden and silver eye narrowed. “My job is to…”
“Your job is to do as you’re ordered.”
Just like that, the vibrating tension seemed to seep out of the image of his general’s shoulders through the screen, though Keith knew it was only temporary. “I do as my emperor commands.” his general said, hand moving up to his chest in salute. “I just...don’t like it when you go where I can’t protect you.”
There it was. The tiny moments that made all this worth while. The thing he would give everything to protect. “We’ll be home soon.” Keith placated, feeling the tension begin to drop out of his own shoulders.
His general’s fist moved over his heart in salute. “Vrepit sa, my Emperor.”
“Champion.”