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Keith awoke to voices,
“What’s happening to him, Kolivan?”
“I don’t know, but his temperature is too high according to my conversions…I don’t understand the human technology very well but I believe that it is indicating that he is ill.”
“Well how do we fix him?”
“You’re the one who’s spent the most time around humans, you tell me!”
They’re behaving like children, Keith thought, growing increasingly more annoyed as Krolia and Kolivan’s concerned bickering prattled on.
He groaned, or attempted to, as he found his voice was so messed up that all that came out was a garbled croak that clawed at the sensitive flesh. He pried his eyes open to see that the two galra next to him had gone deadly silent, eyes wide.
“He’s awake…”
Kolivan muttered, and Krolia gave him an impatient look,
“I can see that!”
She hissed, then put on a soft expression,
“How are you doing, Keith?”
“Umb… Okay I guess…”
“Okay great! We’ll leave you to it,”
Kolivan turned on his heel and made to leave, only to be stopped by a sharp yank on his braid,
“Ah! Okay, okay, woman! Ahem, I believe what your mother means is how are you doing in terms of the illness you clearly have? We don’t really know what to do as our bodies don’t work the same as yours, and we can’t get ahold of the paladins for help. The newest blue paladin is quite adamant that they are too busy to take our calls.”
“Okay…”
Keith struggled to sit up, coughing into his arm as tears pooled in his eyes unbidden, looking up at the two Blades pitifully,
“W-why do they hate me? I thought I was doing the right thing by leaving so everyone would have a spot on the team but now they just hate me more!”
He wailed, tears streaming down his flushed cheeks.
“He’s clearly delirious, Krolia. What do we do?”
Kolivan muttered,
“I don’t know! I’m…unfamiliar with human emotions to say the least.”
Krolia reached out to Keith, who was shivering violently and alternating between rough sobs and violent coughs, and placed a hand on his back, awkwardly rubbing. She was startled when he flopped into her, sniffling harshly through the tears as a sneeze tingled in the back of his sinuses.
“Hh C-cand I h-have a tihhssue?”
“A wha-
“NGHchshtt’UH!”
Krolia jumped back in surprise at the wet outburst, looking to see Keith sniffling uselessly at the mess running down his face, still trying to wipe the tears from his eyes.
“I believe he wanted this,”
Kolivan said, holding out a box of tissues which Keith immediately grabbed, tending to his messy face. He looked up at his mother apologetically, offering one of the strange white squares.
When Krolia looked at it, unsure of what to do, Keith just wiped the spray off himself with an embarrassed, tear-filled grimace.
“I’m so sorry… I can’t do anything right. No wonder they don’t want me back.”
He was angry with himself, and the two older galra softened at his self-berating.
“Keith, this is your home now. You don’t need the paladins. I’ve seen your nightmares, they’re all about those horrid humans.”
“But-”
“And this Lance character is the worst person I’ve ever met! He calls you horrible names and makes fun of you all the time. Here we care about you and love you unconditionally, okay?”
“Okay…I’m sorry…”
Keith burrowed back under the blankets, hoping that his mother and mentor couldn’t hear the strangled sobs he was trying to choke down.
The Blade would be his home forever, it was abundantly clear from the way the paladins had been acting towards him, so he’d better get used to it.