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Krolia has seen many things in her life.
She’s seen thousands of constellations in thousands of solar systems. She’s been in countless warships and fights—seen the blood of her enemies splattered onto walls and the remains of a destroyed sentry littered on the floor. She’s seen her teammates from the Blade slowly gain scars over the years, even watched them disappear.
She’s seen so much violence that it’s become quite numbing. Seeing the life drain from her enemies’ eyes is a lot less surprising that it should be, she thinks.
She’s only ever been surprised by two things her whole life.
The first would be her mate, or as he would call it, her husband. A soft, lovely, kind soul who protected her and held her close. A man with the most understanding, giving heart she’s ever met. His presence in her life was surprising indeed, and the impact he’s left on her is far greater than any injury she’s faced.
The second surprise she’s come across would be from her own son. Or rather, her own son’s return.
Because when he ran off to chase after Shiro — whom she’s heard a million good things about — she didn’t expect Keith to come back battered and bruised, with a new scar, tears in his eyes, and an unconscious body in his arms.
The cry for help Keith had let out was utterly guttural. At first, Krolia had thought it was from the pain on his cheek. The scar had been fresh and an angry red, digging deep into his skin. But then Keith’s knees gave out and he cradled Shiro tighter into his chest, and Krolia registered who the cry of help was meant for.
It was quite a mess after that. Shiro was rushed to a pod—not for healing, but for preservation. Krolia is unaware of the details, but it’s clear that Shiro isn’t really Shiro. Not the one that Keith has been telling her about.
Right now, Krolia is walking around the Castle of Lions aimlessly. She knows that everyone else is asleep, but she is quite used to the unpredictable missions that the Blade usually gives, so she’s gotten used to having less sleep. Plus, Galras need less sleep to function anyway. She’s noticed that the humans get a bit grumpy without at least eight hours.
Krolia walks through empty hallways, feet tapping silently against cool, metallic floors. Her eyes glow yellow, helping her see a bit better. Suddenly, her ears twitch as she picks up on a noise.
She angles her ears towards the source, a hand going to her blade out of instinct. Like a robot, she reverts into stealth mode, blending in seamlessly into the shadows as she makes her way towards a possible intruder. She can’t imagine the Altean princess being too happy at the idea of an intruder sneaking in undetected, so Krolia will intervene for her.
Krolia makes it to another room and peers inside, freezing when she sees two figures. She catches a soft, blue glow illuminating the room and realises she’s at the pod room.
Her eyes shift to slits to accomodate to the new lighting, and her ears flick back in surprise when she sees who the figures are.
The first one is, without a doubt, her son. She would recognise her own wild, dark hair anywhere. Keith sits in front of an occupied pod, eyes focused heavily on who she knows must be Shiro. He’s speaking quietly, so soft that if it wasn’t for Krolia’s extreme hearing, she wouldn’t be able to make out his words.
The second figure… Well, Krolia hasn’t known the Paladins for very long, but from the minimal time she has and from Keith’s stories, this one must be the Blue Paladin. Lance, she’s pretty sure. He’s fiddling with the sleeves of his jacket, though his eyes are trained on Keith, a small frown on his lips.
Krolia thinks that she might be intruding onto a serious conversation, but just as she turns to leave, she picks up on words that make her freeze up.
“I know it wasn’t really him,” Keith says quietly. “But it was still his face. His voice. His body. It felt too realistic for me to not believe it was him.”
Krolia frowns.
“And it sucks, I guess. Shiro—the real one—has done so much for me. He’s given up everything just to raise me and love me and… and it felt like the biggest betrayal when he told me he regretted it all.”
Keith laughs hoarsely. “That he should’ve abandoned me. That I was worthless. That my parents left me for the same reason.”
Krolia’s heart almost stops.
“And even after all that, I just couldn’t let him go. I couldn’t give up on him. I promised myself that I’d save him no matter what, but every day I watch Shiro in this stupid pod, waiting for him to wake up, and I think… I think I failed.”
“Keith,” Lance says, sounding wrenched for him. “None of what happened was your fault. You did everything you could. And you had to fight someone you love so deeply… it can’t have been easy.”
“Guess not,” Keith mumbles.
“And… if anything, this whole thing is my fault.” A noise of confusion leaves Keith’s throat, but Lance simply sighs. “I noticed something was up with Shiro quite a few times. I think at one point he even tried to warn me, somehow. The real Shiro tried to tell me that we had a clone with us, but I didn’t realise it then. I’m the one who failed, Keith. Not you.”
Krolia dares to peer into the room again and is surprised to see Keith facing Lance instead of the pod. Keith has both hands cradling Lance’s face, a fierce look in his eyes.
“No,” Keith says firmly. “There is—none of this could ever be your fault, Lance. I know you. You would have done everything you could to stop this if you knew. But there is no way you could’ve known, so don’t go blaming yourself for something out of your control.”
Lance laughs weakly. Krolia spots a small tear rolling down his tan skin. “You’re such a hypocrite.”
Keith scoffs, though there’s a small smile playing on his lips. He wipes the tear away gently. “Shut up.”
Lance reaches out, brushing his thumb along the scar of Keith’s cheek. It looks slightly pinker now, but it must still be sensitive and healing, for Keith flinches away. Krolia winces. She must get around to helping him deal with that soon.
“Sorry,” Lance mumbles. Keith shakes his head, resting his cheek into Lance’s palm. “Still hurts?”
“A little,” Keith admits. Lance smiles sadly.
And then, Krolia is hit with the third surprise of her life as she watches Lance lean in and press a soft, soothing kiss onto Keith’s scar. Her son’s face burns just as pink as the marking on his cheek, but he doesn’t shy away from it. Instead, the crease between his eyebrows dissolve and his shoulders relax, making him look younger.
“To make it feel better,” Lance explains, looking away with reddening cheeks.
“Thanks,” Keith says, huffing out a laugh. Lance looks back up and smiles.
“Let’s go to bed,” he suggests, running a hand through Keith’s hair affectionately. “I think that’s enough worrying for one night.”
Keith breathes deeply and nods. “You’re right. Let’s go.”
They stand up, which Krolia takes as her cue to leave. She dashes off into another direction, footsteps pattering quietly. When she reaches a safe distance away, she allows her head to spin.
Keith never told her anything about… this. She wracks her own brain, thinking back to any clues he might’ve dropped that he had a mate back in the castle.
“And Lance, who’s the right-hand of Voltron. He’s our biggest support. I wouldn’t be where I was as the leader without him.”
“He’s so contradictory, you know? I think he puts on an act sometimes, but I can read him just fine.”
“I hope he gets to go back to his family on Earth one day. He said he’ll show me all his favourite spots in Cuba.”
Huh. Maybe Krolia was a bit oblivious back on that space whale.
She smiles to herself, shaking her head. She may not know much about Keith yet, but she’s glad that he’s at least found his happiness among all the chaos of living in space.
She should go to bed too, she thinks. Then she can ask Keith about Lance tomorrow and tease him. She’s pretty sure that’s a motherly duty of hers that she’s yet to fulfill, after all.
(“When were you going to tell me that you and the Blue Paladin were together?” Krolia asks her son, sliding into the seat beside him smoothly.
Keith startles, staring back with wide, panicked eyes. “What? L-Lance?!”
“Yes. Are you two not courting?”
“No, Mom! Why would you ever think that! We’re just friends, I swear.”
Krolia raises her eyebrows at Keith’s burning cheeks. “Oh, okay,” she says disbelievingly, “maybe I’ve mistaken.”
“You have,” Keith insists.
Just then, Lance walks into the room. He beams and Krolia watches as Keith’s shoulders sag and his expression turns… sappy. Just sappy. Really fucking sappy.
“Hi Krolia! Mullet! What’re we talking about?” he asks.
Keith’s eyes soften even more, if that’s possible. “Not a mullet,” he quips back, and Lance grins like he’s been expecting it.
Krolia just has to roll her eyes. “Nope. I’m definitely not mistaken.”
“Shut up,” Keith hisses at her, and she simply laughs.)