Work Text:
Keith crept along the hallway of the Galra ship. He was on a sabotage mission. There was only a limited amount of time to complete the mission. He ducked past sentries and Glaran soldiers, moving silently to the bridge. He arrived, crouching down below the monitor to place the device. When he looked up, he saw Voltron. They approached, ready to attack. He quickly connected communications with the red lion, trying to tell Lance he was on board, but the voice that replied was his own. All Keith could do was watch as Red opened fire on the ship. Flames filled the ship. The flames made his bombs explode in a chain reaction. The heat filled the bridge, tearing at his skin and making every nerve fire up with pain. He only had moments to interpret the pain of the flames before the bomb he had just planted exploded, throwing him into oblivion.
☆☆☆☆
Keith woke, jumping out of his bed on the Castle of Lions. The thought that it had been a while since he had been on the ship entered his mind, but he shoved it away. Instead, he headed to find the paladins. They should be at breakfast, so he headed for the kitchen. When he entered, their laughter met his ears. Shiro noticed something was off with Keith and stood. Keith quickly rushed to him and gave him a tight hug.
“Whoa, buddy. You hardly ever give hugs. You okay?” Shiro asked.
“Not really. I had a nightmare,” Keith mumbled, loud enough for the others to hear.
“Really? Don’t you normally go to the training deck instead of clinging to one of us like a grumpy koala?” Lance taunted.
“Yeah, don’t you?” Shiro questioned, brows furrowed in confusion.
Keith stepped back in shock. He wasn’t expecting that . The others always went to each other after a bad dream.
“Well… yeah, but I have been working on it at the Blade. The main reason I did that was because my instinct was to go to one of you guys, and I didn’t want to bother you,” he replied quietly.
“And you don’t think you are bothering us now? We were having a perfectly fine conversation before you interrupted with your overreaction,” Pidge said hotly.
“I-I thought,” Keith stammered.
“Well, you thought wrong,” Allura said coldly from the end of the table.
Keith glanced around, tears filling his eyes. Why were they acting like this?
“Sorry, I have just been working on not ignoring my instincts with the Blade. I was just following them,” Keith muttered, a tear falling free.
“Oh wow. Keith’s a big baby now. He’s crying. Yeesh, such a drama queen,” Hunk said.
Keith looked at the normally kind hearted Paladin. Pain filling his heart. He didn’t understand what was going on. He looked desperately to Coran for help.
“I believe the instincts that Keith was referring to were his Galran instincts,” Coran supplied.
“Well that’s worse,” Shiro stated, “First you over react, and now we learn that this is because you are Galran ? Disgusting .”
Keith backed away even more. This didn’t make sense. Hunk was normally kind, and Shiro had never been cold to him before. Pidge had even come to him for her nightmares before. He shook his head and started backing toward the door. Something was wrong, and he did not want to stay in this room.
As he neared the door, Pidge turned to Allura, “Allura, do you think Keith could be dangerous? I mean, he is acting more like a Galra.”
“You are correct,” She turned narrowed eyes to Keith, “perhaps we should just not take the chance and just send him out an airlock.”
There were murmurs of agreement, and Keith took off down the hall. He had to find somewhere safe. Perhaps he could get to the pods and leave, but they would most likely find him. He turned down the hallway for the paladins’s rooms. He remembered the fact that Lance and he had argued a lot. Shiro had even said that it seemed like they hated each other. He slammed his hand onto the scanner for Lance’s room. The door opened with a whoosh. Keith scrambled in and slipped under the bed. It was dark in the compartment, but it was safe. It was the last place they would look and even if they did look in Lance’s room, they wouldn’t think to look for the compartment. He slowed his breathing and made it as quiet as possible. He used his training to make himself nearly silent. He never thought he would be using his training to hide from his team. This was far worse than the nightmare. If anything, he wished that nightmare was his reality. He huffed out a laugh mentally along with the thought, Who would have thought that I would prefer a nightmare reality? This is nuts! What is wrong with them?
He heard Shiro and Lance’s voices as they passed by the room, “Do you think he would go into your room, Lance?”
“No way,” Lance said, “he hates my guts! He would never go in there.”
“At least we will be getting rid of him.”
“Yeah, he was always a liability.”
“I couldn’t agree more …,” the rest of Shiro’s reply was lost as they continued down the hall.
Keith looked over at the corner of the cabinet, trying to hold back his tears. His efforts failed as his body shook with silent sobs, and his cheeks were coated with his tears. He had never thought they would turn on him, not truly. Even when they had found out that he was part Galra, he had known that they would never turn on him. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to stay, but he had no way out. He sat there for a while before the thought occurred to him that Allura grew up in the castle. She would know about the compartment under the bed. Would he be able to fight them off if he needed to? No. They were still his family. He could struggle, but he could never hurt them. That would be worse than whatever they would do. He felt his heart still as footsteps approached the room. The door slid open, and it dropped to his stomach.
The compartment flooded with light, and he was yanked out, "There you are."
Allura's voice was cold, and Keith knew that there was nothing he could do. He attempted to get out of her grip, but it was to no avail. Her hand was wrapped around the back of his shirt like a vice. He was shoved out the door into the hallway where the others were waiting. He looked at Shiro, hoping against hope that there would be some form of warmth in his brother's face. There was nothing. Hunk's face was next, but there were no traces of the kindness that was normally there. He held no hope for Lance, but he looked anyway. His face held no warmth, kindness, or compassion. Despite the fact they had been so close, there was no hint of regret. He looked at Pidge in one last attempt. Nothing. There was no sign of the friend he had come to know in her face.
"Since we found him, let's get this over with," Hunk said.
There were a round of nods. Keith felt like he was in a different reality. This wasn't the friends he had known. All he could do was either hurt them, or accept their choice and get sent out an airlock.
When they reached their destination, he spoke up, "May I please say one last thing?"
To his surprise, Pidge shrugged and said, "Might as well. It isn't like it'll do anything."
The others nodded, again. The question, What is with the nodding? Passed through his head before he said, "I just want to say, I don't understand why you are doing this, but I still love you all. You are my family. I just hope you realize your mistake and have it prevent this from happening again."
Once he finished, they shoved him in and released him to drift off into space. Alone.
☆☆☆☆
Keith's pack was gathered around him. They had attempted to wake him from his nightmare, but nothing was working. Whines of distress flooded the air and tears streamed down his face. Anton's tail was consistently removing Keith's tears gently. Her tail was becoming soaked, but she didn't care. She couldn't do anything else. Keith suddenly sat up. A gasp for air their only warning. He looked around, expecting to see empty space. As the nightmare was replaced with reality, Keith began shaking and whimpering. The rest of his pack let out rumbles in an attempt of comfort. He clutched at Kolivan. Kolivan looked up at his mate and gestured for her to come and help. Antok wrapped her arms and tail around Keith. Slowly, Keith drifted off once more. Antok and Ulaz were both distressed at Keith's distress. Thace attempted to comfort his mate and left Antok to Kolivan. They all looked at Keith, hoping they could help him overcome his fears.