Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Heya Keith, it’s good to see you, it’s been awhile.”

Keith leaned back from the holoscreen and quirked an eyebrow. “Yeah, well it’s good to hear from you.”

“Ugh, you know what I mean Keith. How have you been? Anything new with you over in Blade City?” There was a hitch to Lance’s voice. He was hiding something, Keith just wasn’t sure what.

“You know, same old same old. I do a mission here, get blown up there, find my alien mother, you know the usual stuff.”

“Right, right good to hear. You know I…wait, alien mother? You found your mom?!?!”

Keith rubbed a hand over the patch of shaved hair next to the port in his head that allowed him to connect to the Blade ships, a nervous habit he’d picked up over the past few months.

“Yeah, she was my contact on a mission I ran. She recognized me somehow and yeah, that’s about it.”

“What do you mean that’s it?” Lance screeched. “You found your mom after how many years? What’s she like? What did she say? When did you find her? Why didn’t you tell us as soon as you did?”

Keith sighed and started picking at the edges of his gloves, another nervous habit, he was starting to realize he had quite a few of those.

“She’s tall. Which you know, doesn’t seem right cause dad was pretty tall too so why didn’t I seem to inherit that trait. I’m wondering if this means I’m due for a growth spurt any minute, you know?”

Lance was silent for a long stretch of time. When he finally spoke up it was much quieter than before. “Are you okay?”

Keith thought about lying but what was the point?

“I don’t really know how I’m supposed to feel right now. I’m happy she’s alive but I’m pissed about all the time she spent away. I mean she abandoned me. But I can’t really complain because it’s the Blade way right? The mission is more important than anything. Even your life.”

“Bullshit.” Lance grit out, sounding angrier than Keith had heard in a while.

“What?” Keith asked tiredly, ready to end this conversation, not feeling up to hashing this out now.

“You have every right to be angry. Who cares about the mission? She abandoned you. There were other Blades who could have taken her place. She didn’t have to leave you. Have you talked to her about this at all?”

“Not really,” Keith mumbled, slouching in his chair.

“Keith,” Lance said and Keith could almost picture in his mind how Lance was probably leaning forward in his chair, far closer to the holoscreen than he needed to be.

“Why did you call Lance?” Keith tried to steer the conversation away from him. He didn’t want to talk about the fact that he hadn’t really confronted his mother with all his conflicting feelings yet. In fact he’d taken to hiding away in his room like he had when he had first joined the Blades. He wasn’t ready to talk to her so he was happy to just take missions and ignore it.

“Do I need a reason to call my favorite Blade member?” Lance laughed nervously. Now Keith was sure he was hiding something, the question was what was it?

Keith didn’t even respond, just quirked his eyebrow at Lance again, hoping to convey that he wasn’t going to be distracted from figuring out what was going on with him.
Lance sighed then asked, “How do you do that Space Daredevil?”

“A superhero never shares their secrets.”

Lance huffed out a short laugh, “Yeah, that’s not quite how the saying goes but I’ll take it I guess. So, I don’t really know where to start. I don’t really have any proof either but I just, I needed to tell someone about this and I thought that maybe you’d be willing to listen to this, that you might know what to do.”

Keith was starting to get really concerned, whatever it was it was clear that it was eating away at Lance, who was usually a lot more self-assured.

“Something’s wrong with Shiro.”

Keith sat straight up and leaned forward immediately anxious, “What do you mean? What happened to Shiro?”

“No, that wasn’t the way to phrase it. Physically he’s fine but he’s been acting different lately. Actually I think he’s been acting differently for a while now, and I guess I was wondering if you noticed it too. I was thinking about it Keith and you started to pull away when Shiro came back. I wonder if, even subconsciously you realized something was different, off, about him.”

Keith wanted to lash out at Lance, to call him a liar and an idiot and how dare he imply that Shiro was different. But then he thought back to after Shiro returned, how he questioned every call he made when he was in Black, undermining his authority, and striping away at his confidence in a way that Shiro had never done before.

“What happened?” Keith asked. He could practically see the way Lance’s shoulders slumped in relief at being taken seriously, his sigh of relief clearly audible over the feed.

“It’s a lot of little things but he’s been shooting down all my ideas lately. Not just mine but everyone’s. It’s either his way or no way. Shiro used to work hard to make sure we did things, everything, as a team but now he makes his decision and then just expects us to follow, no questions asked.”

Keith considered this for a minute. It’s true this was all very different from how Shiro used to act. It’s true that Keith had noticed this behavior when he was still with Voltron. Keith had been scared to think too deeply on what it meant though.

“He’s been through a lot. We don’t really know the full story of what the Galra did to him when they had him. Whatever it was, it surely changed him. Is my personality still the same as it was before I was tortured by the Galra?”

Lance sucked in a sharp breath at Keith’s comment but then Keith was pleased to hear the silence that stretched between them as Lance actually took the time to consider his statement.

“This feels different,” Lance finally replied.

“I agree but how is it different? We need to have proof that there is something actually wrong, aside from some PTSD, because I assume that’s what you mean. What is it you really think is going on Lance?”

Keith had an idea himself, something he’d pushed to the back of his mind, not wanting to think about because if it was true it would wreck him.

“I think he’s a puppet for Haggar.”

Lance was blunt in his delivery. Keith felt the words strike him directly in his chest. This is what he had feared, that the Galra had someone broken Shiro, used Shiro in a way that would break him, possibly beyond repair this time.

“I’ll grab a ship and get to you as soon as I can.”

“You believe me?” Lance asked, voice sounding small.

“I trust you,” Keith said slowly, “I’m not sure what exactly is wrong with Shiro, but I trust your judgement. I’ll be there soon to help you figure this out. If…whatever is wrong, we’ll fix it together. We’ll help bring Shiro back to himself. Whatever it takes.”

“I missed you Space Daredevil. See you soon. Lance out.”

The line clicked off and Keith slumped back in his chair again, rubbing his hands up and down his face as if that would wipe away the weariness that he felt settle into his being.

Keith stood up and started gathering a small bag of things, not much, mainly just clothes. As he gathered his things he tried to convince himself that he was going to help out Lance simply because that’s what needed to be done and not because it was a chance to hide from having to talk with his mother.

He was still trying to convince himself of this fact as he steered his ship out of the hanger and began the journey back to his team.

Chapter Text

Lance was waiting for him in the hangar, his nervous energy practically caused him to vibrate making it easy for Keith’s senses to pick up where he was.

“Keith, buddy, Space Daredevil, my number one favorite Blade member welcome back my dude!” Lance rambled, pulling Keith into a tight embrace. Keith lingered in the embrace longer than he would usually allow himself but between what was going on with his mom and what was potentially going on with Shiro, he felt he deserved a few moments of comfort.

Lance pulled away first and Keith could practically feel Lance’s eyes travel up and down his body, checking that he was okay. Physically he was fine, mentally was a different story but Lance shouldn’t have to worry about him right now. Not when they had Shiro to worry about.

“Dude, why don’t you grow out your hair around the port? Honestly isn’t it more work to shave around it instead of just letting your hair grow back. I hate to say it but I miss your mullet.”

Keith smirked, “You’re just annoyed cause it makes me look badass.”

“Nope, no, nuh-uh, that is completely false.”

“Right, right, keep telling yourself that Sharpshooter. So,” Keith paused, trying to find the words for what they were about to do. “So how do you want to do this?”

Lance sighed, “Let’s go to my room. I have an idea but the hangar isn’t really the place to share it.”

“Lead the way then.”

The pair walked in silence, Keith listening to Lance’s steps as they thumped on the floor. It may have been a while since Keith had been in the Castle but he still knew his way around. The countless hours he had spent walking the halls with Shiro had seen to that.

Lance opened the door to his room allowing Keith to enter first. Keith paused in the middle of the room, realizing they weren’t alone.

Lance shut the door and addressed the people in the room. “Thanks for waiting in here.”

“Of course Lance, I just wish I knew why we were having a secret meeting in your room. And it is lovely to see you Keith,” Allura spoke from somewhere off to Keith’s right.

“I too wish to know why we are meeting like this Paladin.” Though Keith had known there was another person in the room he had not expected it to be Lotor. What was Lance planning?

“Okay, so now that the gangs all here I guess we can begin,” Lance said, trying to sound excited but Keith could tell he was feeling nervous. “So, uh…”

“We think Haggar may be influencing Shiro’s actions,” Keith said. They were there to find some answers and they never would find them if they kept beating around the bush.

“Then we must not waste any time. Take me to the Black Paladin and I will kill the spy.”

“Woah, woah, woah, we are not going to kill Shiro!” Lance yelled at Lotor.

“It is the only way to ensure that the witch cannot spy on us,” Lotor replied calmly.

“Wait, Keith, Lance, what are you talking about? Why do you think Haggar has control of Shiro?” Allura asked.

“Ever since we got him back there’s been something off about him,” Lance said, “I’m sure you’ve noticed it too. He won’t accept any ideas unless they’re his. You so much as dare to suggest something else and he practically jumps down your throat. And you have to admit, Haggar and the Galra seem to have an uncanny ability to know where we are and what we’re planning. He was missing for so long, isn’t it possible that Haggar somehow, I don’t know, hijacked his mind and is influencing or even controlling his actions from afar?”

“It is entirely possible and must be dealt with swiftly,” Lotor said, moving to stand up.

Keith moved to block his path. “There must be a way to fix this or to even know for sure that he is infected by Haggar. We are not going to kill Shiro.”

Lance turned and spoke directly to Allura. “Princess I asked you here because you know about magic and all that. Lotor knows about quintessence. I’m assuming whatever Haggar has done to Shiro quintessence is involved.”

“Yes, that would make sense,” Allura said, “This is a very serious accusation Lance, Keith, we need to be sure before we do anything else.”

“Is there a way we can detect Haggar’s presence, or at least the presence of her magic. Can we detect quintessence?” Keith asked, agreeing with Allura that the first step was to know for absolutely sure. But deep inside Keith knew that it was true.

“The witches’ quintessence does have its own specific signature,” Lotor mused. “I could work with your Green Paladin to modify your scanners to pick up the energy signature.”

“We need to prepare for what happens once we have proof that he is being controlled. We’ll have to put him in containment while we work out how to remove her influence,” Keith said. As much as he hated the idea of locking Shiro up it was the only way to ensure that the Paladin’s and Shiro himself remained safe.

“I have a way to ensure her influence is gone,” Lotor growled.

“And we’ve already said we are absolutely, 100% not doing that so leave it will you?” Lance shouted.

“I will go along with your plans Paladin, but just know that I believe you are all making a mistake.”

“Duly noted, now we need Lotor and Pidge to come up with the quintessence device, Keith and I will detain Shiro, and Princess you’ll work on using your wonderful magical magic powers to fix Shiro. Sound like a good plan? Good, let’s go.” Lance ushered Allura and Lotor out of the room and then flopped onto his bed with a groan.

“Well that went pretty well,” Keith said, taking a seat next to Lance.

Lance laughed, “Right Space Daredevil, if you say so. Now we just have to wait for Lotor and Pidge to make some kind of quintessence/Haggar detector all the while keeping Shiro in the dark and preventing Lotor from just going ahead and killing Shiro. Yep, everything is peachy keen.”

Keith leaned back until he was lying on the bed next to Lance.

“You did the right thing. Telling them. We have a plan. Maybe not a completely solid plan, but a plan. It'll work out.”

“What if I’m wrong,” Lance whispered so quiet that without his Galra genes Keith probably would have missed it.

“Then we kick Shiro’s ass for thinking he can treat you the way he has been.”

“Really?” Lance asked, sounding surprised.

“He has no right to be so dismissive of you. If it turns out that Shiro’s been doing that of his own free will then I will be having some words with him. No one deserves to be made to feel that their opinions don’t matter. You don’t deserve that.”

“Wow Space Daredevil. I’m touched man. And hey, I can return the favor by kicking your mom’s ass for you.”

Keith barked out a laugh, not expecting that come out of Lance’s mouth. “And why do you need to kick my mom’s ass?”

“Dude, you said it yourself. She left you. Screw the mission, she could’ve brought you and your dad with her. Plus being a Blade she must’ve known about you being out in space for a while. Meaning she was hiding from you. Yes she’s around now and dude I’m really happy that you get to know her but like, I’m still gonna kick her ass for abandoning you in the first place.”

Keith was touched but he wasn’t surprised. Lance had proved time and again that despite his outward silliness that he was a good friend who would do anything for his friends. “Thanks Lance.” It didn’t seem like enough but Keith didn’t know what else to say.

“Not a problem, Keith.”

***

“I have finished your device,” Lotor said, handing over a small square device to Keith.

It had been two weeks since Keith had arrived. Lotor and Pidge had been working on the device every spare chance they got. Keith meanwhile had been spending time acting as a buffer between Lance and Shiro. For the most part Lance avoided Shiro but some days that was impossible. On those days Keith attempted to keep the worst of Shiro’s mood swings away from Lance but there was only so much he could do. Lance was right. Shiro had gotten much worse since the days were he was undermining his authority as the black paladin. It seemed as if every time Lance opened his mouth Shiro was ready with a retort that bordered on cruel. Keith was more than ready for this whole thing to be over.

Keith felt along the device in his hands. It seemed simple enough, with only a few nobs and buttons, but Keith wasn’t sure how it was supposed to work.

Lance hovered over his shoulder, presumably looking the device over himself, trying to figure it out.

“So how does it work,” Keith asked.

“You must get close to Shiro and stay close for a full dobosh. If he is in fact being controlled by the witch then the device will light up red. If he is not being controlled then it will light up green.”

Keith handed the device off to Lance, grumbling, “You couldn’t have made one that made sound?”

“And have the sound alert the Black Paladin, and by extension Haggar, that something is amiss?” Lotor quipped back.

“Okay, thank you Lotor you can go now,” Lance said.

“You will need me when you confront the Black Paladin.”

“Nope, no, we do not need a trigger happy Prince for this. Thanks for your help but we can take it from here.”

“This is very unwise Paladin,” Lotor growled.

“You’ve done your job. Keith and I can take care of the next part. If you feel like you need to do something then help Allura figure out how to use magic to fix Shiro but leave this part to us.”

“Fine. I hope you know what you are doing.”

Keith could hear Lotor walking away. Once Keith could no longer hear Lotor’s steps he turned toward Lance. “Are you ready?”

Lance laughed, “Yeah I don’t think I’ll ever be truly ready for this. Either way the outcome isn’t great. Am I a terrible person for hoping that I’m right and that Haggar really is controlling him?”

“No. Lance no matter what I have your back. Now seems like as good a time as any to do this. Hunk and Pidge are busy in Pidge’s lab and Shiro is on the training deck. I’ll distract him while you do the scan. If it turns out Haggar is controlling him give me a signal and I’ll knock him out.”

“Okay, what should the signal be?”

“How about you just tell me the color. Red and I’ll knock him out. Green and I’ll kick his ass.”

“We’re really about to do this,” Lance said sounding stunned that they had reached that point.

“Yeah, we are. You ready Sharpshooter?”

“As I’ll ever be Space Daredevil. Lead the way.”

****

They got to the training deck just as Shiro was wrapping up.

“Hey Keith, Lance. Did you guys come here to train?”

“We did but I was hoping to catch you so we could talk,” Keith said, listening as Lance moved around to stand to Shiro’s right. Shiro started to turn toward Lance, presumably to be able to keep an eye on him when Keith continued. “I met a Blade member recently, Krolia.” That seemed to get Shiro’s attention. Keith could tell that he had moved back so he was directly facing Keith. Now Keith just had to keep his attention long enough for Lance to do the scan.

“Krolia was working deep undercover at a facility that housed a great weapon. We were trying to keep the weapon from staying in Galra control.” Keith was hoping that if Haggar were controlling him somehow, that this conversation would catch her interest. And if she wasn’t then he was glad that he could share the story with Shiro.

“Did you succeed?” Shiro asked, short and to the point.

“Well, while we were making our escape I learned something pretty crazy about Krolia.” Keith could feel sweat beginning to drip down the back of his neck. Soon they would know if Shiro was being controlled. Soon they would have to knock Shiro out and hope that Allura could find a way to help him.

“What did you learn?”

“She’s my mom.”

“You’re mother?” Shiro sounded shocked but something felt off about the reaction. Keith had expected more. Shiro knew about how he felt. How he had felt abandoned his whole life. How he had felt like he couldn’t trust anyone to stick around. And all he got was a measly little question in response.

“Yeah, she apparently has been working with the Blades for years. For my whole life. She was a member when she met my dad. The mission called or whatever and she had to leave back to space."

“Wow Keith, that must have been quite a shock. And you learned that in the middle of the mission with the weapon. What happened to the base? Do you know what the weapon was? Or where the weapon is now?”

A shock? That was it. A shock? Where was the anger? Where was the frustration? Where was Shiro? When Lance spoke up to utter his one word code Keith had no more doubts. “Red.”

Before Lance had even finished uttering the color Keith was moving. He lashed out with a fist, aiming for a swift uppercut, hoping to take Shiro by surprise. But Shiro’s reflexes prevailed and he avoided the blow.

“If you had wanted to train with me you should have just said so,” Shiro sneered.

Keith continued to move, lashing out with a kick followed by another punch, both of which were easily deflected.

“Sorry Shiro, but we’re gonna help you,” Keith said, pulling his blade from the sheath at this back. He held it with the blade facing his arm, hoping to use the hilt to deal a knockout blow.

Keith moved forward again, and this time when Shiro swung out with his own arm, he grabbed hold and used it to swing himself up and over Shiro, bringing the hilt down with a resounding crack on Shiro’s skull. The scent of blood immediately filled the air, but Shiro remained standing.

“Oh young Blade. This is a fight you cannot win,” snarled Shiro in a voice that was almost unrecognizable. That’s when Keith heard Shiro’s arm power up. The arm swung out at him and Keith had to activate his blade to block the blow. They danced back and forth across the floor, swinging, jumping, punching, slashing. Each landing blows on the other but neither managing to deal a knockout or fatal blow.

They broke apart, each nursing their bruises and cuts. Shiro had managed to slice into his arm with his burning, metal hand. Keith could feel the blood flowing down his arm. He also knew that he had managed to land a few slices on Shiro’s human arm and his shoulders.

Shiro recovered first and was moving in for another jab with his metal arm when Keith heard Lance let out a wild yell. Shiro grunted at a sudden weight, landing on his back. Keith heard as his breathing became more labored. He guessed that Lance had him in a sleeper hold.

“Shiro, I know you’re in there dude. We’re gonna get you help but first we gotta knock you out,” Lance grunted, putting all his strength into squeezing Shiro’s neck, cutting off his air supply.

Keith thought that this might actually do it, till he heard the arm charging up again. He didn’t even think, he just reacted. He ran forward and grabbed a hold of the burning, metal arm, keeping it from reaching for Lance. This didn’t keep the human arm from pounding on the back of his head but he held fast. The blows were weakening and soon stopped as Shiro fell to his knees and passed out.

Keith fell to the floor, landing with a dull thump. He could hear Lance breathing heavily above him.

“Okay, okay, so that went, well? Yeah, it went well. Think you can move Space Daredevil? We need to get Shiro into a cell like yesterday.”

Keith simply reached his uninjured arm up. Lance grasped it and pulled him up. Together they managed to drag Shiro through the halls and into the cell.

“Now it’s up to Allura,” Keith said, leaning against the wall of the cell.

****

With Shiro knocked out and placed in a cell, and with Keith looking a little worse for wear they had to tell Hunk and Pidge what was going on. Pidge of course was indignant that they hadn’t been told right away what was happening and had been kept in the dark. Hunk was just happy that everyone was okay and that thought everyone should focus on that.

Pidge quickly shook off their frustration and went off to find Allura to lend a hand. Pidge did some scans of Shiro while he was still unconscious and found something that shocked everyone.

“So there’s a device implanted in Shiro’s brain?” Keith asked. For some reason the idea that it wasn’t just magic controlling Shiro but also a device that was surgically implanted into his brain made everything so much worse.

“Near as I can tell the devices main purpose is to just boost the signal. Allowing the connection Haggar has to the quintessence she placed in his brain to remain strong despite the distance separating them,” Pidge replied. “It’s fascinating really the combination of machine and quintessence. It’s similar to Shiro’s arm and how it uses quintessence. It is essentially rechargeable, it won’t run out and Haggar can have continued control from wherever it is she is.”

“So what do we do?” asked Lance.

“We believe that, the only way to break Haggar’s hold completely is to remove the device and the quintessence she implanted at the same time,” Allura replied.

“So he needs brain surgery?” Keith asked, thinking of his own surgery to have the port placed in his head and how that had been less than pleasant.

“Yes. We think that if I work to remove the device while Allura uses her magic to extract the quintessence that Haggar’s hold of him will be broken.”

“So, let’s get this over with!” Lance said.

“It’s not that simple. This is brain surgery we’re talking about!” Pidge sounded nervous. No wonder. It was nerve-wracking enough when they were going to do Keith’s surgery, he could only imagine how the idea of cutting into Shiro’s head to get rid of what was essentially a mind control device would be.

“I believe that between Pidge, Coran, and myself we will be successful. That being said I do want to spend some time going over the procedure and saving up my strength before we attempt this. We will most likely only get one chance.”

And so the Castle spent a week preparing for the surgery. Pidge and Coran focused on the medical/mechanical side of things while Allura practiced focusing her magic to extract quintessence. Finally the day of the surgery arrived. Upon realizing they would need time to prepare they had placed Shiro into a healing pod where he could be kept in a sort of coma until it was time to begin.

Lance, Keith, Hunk, and Lotor stood by as Coran, Pidge, and Allura began the operation. As much as the operation was clearly grossing out Lance he kept up a constant commentary so that Keith could know what was happening. It was a long process, with all three of the ‘surgeons’ needing to take breaks. The magical requirement was incredibly taxing on Allura but she insisted they continue on after only short breaks.

After what felt like days but was only a few hours, the surgery was complete. They were unsure of how long Shiro would be asleep or what he would remember when he woke up. Keith refused to leave his side, needing to be there when his oldest friend woke up. Two days later, Shiro finally did.

Keith had started to nod off when he felt Shiro begin to groan and stir.

“Keith?” Shiro mumbled.

“Hey Shiro,” Keith said, relieved more than anything to hear his voice again.

“What happened?”

“What do you remember?” Keith asked hesitantly.

“I…Haggar, she did something to me. I’m not safe. I’m not in control Keith! You need to stay away.”

“Woah, Shiro, calm down. I promise you are in control now. We got Haggar out, she put this device in your head along with some magical quintessence or something like that that allowed her to take control. We got rid of all of it. You are completely in control again.”

“Oh, oh god, Keith I did, I said terrible things. To you, to Lance, oh god.” Shiro was beginning to tremble, Keith could hear the tears in his voice. He got up and moved so he was sitting on the bed and pulled Shiro up into a tight hug.

“It wasn’t you. We know it wasn’t you. I’m sorry it took us so long to realize.”

They sat there, comforting each other for many minutes before Shiro pulled back and laid back down. He reached a hand up and gingerly touched the bandage at the side of his head. He felt around the bandage, feeling that they had had to shave that side of his head.

Shiro started to laugh.

“What?” Keith asked, smiling because it was so good to hear Shiro laughing, genuinely laughing.

“We match,” Shiro replied simply.

Now it was Keith’s turn to laugh. “Promise me you won’t even out your hair.”

“Why?” asked Shiro sounding completely confused.

“Because it pisses Lance off.”