Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He wished his father gave him answers.

How did he eat, sleep, feel like a normal human? Did he even count as a human? His father was one. Was his mother just a figment of his fathers imagination?

Why didn’t his father shut him off before he died? Can he even be powered off?

He wished the day he found out didn’t exist, that he didn’t fall hard enough from a tree that the casing which was hiding metal didn’t happen. Purple lights crisscrossed through each panel, looking not unlike veins yet feeling oddly ominous. Why couldn’t they have been red like a humans blood? It feels like they are just taunting him for being something he is not.

He is 9 when he first runs off from a foster home into a library, his foster mother is mad at him for something her daughter did. The library itself is a calm area, its nice and quiet he thinks to himself if he tries hard enough, he bets he can hear the mechanical turning rattling inside each of his limbs a stark reminder of what he is, he walks over to the robots section of the library although most books for his age are of fantasy robots and science fiction. It takes him a few minutes to find a section of robots in an area for grown ups, but he pulls a few off the shelf and begins to teach himself, the part names are annoyingly different from his own.

Can I replace them?

If I break down would I want to replace them?

He ignores his second thought, even if he doesn’t want to, “it’s important to learn about your body so you can identify what’s wrong” one of his teachers drilled that in his head. Too bad he doesn’t really need the knowledge for a humans body. He goes home at 6, but he wishes he didn’t have to. The library is much better than his foster family.

He repeats this cycle for the next few following weeks, despite being yelled at by a teacher or two for running out the classroom as soon as the bell went or missing a few assignments here and there from his time spent busy reading about robotics.

Despite his questions about whether or not he’ll replace himself if he breaks down, he does end up doing so a year and a half later, it’s a few months after his 10^th birthday but his new foster family doesn’t care. The man, about in his 50’s but rapidly aging as if he was 70, is quick to anger and doesn’t take kindly to his little ‘adventures’ to the library, he’s already got a lot of the books memorised and has begun labelling his own metal insides. So, the day he gets home past 7pm is one he was dreading. He’d already missed the chance to eat no doubt about that but right now the game was on so that could be an added issue for himself. The backdoor was unfortunately locked, just his luck he thinks begrudgingly about to make his way through to the front before the squeak slam of the back door spooked him.

There stood his foster father, clearly a few beers in with his red face being the easiest sign to tell, he had his chest gruffly puffed out before his spoke in a stern voice to Keith.

“Boy if I don’t see you off this property right this second your gonna wish you didn’t even leave today. I’ll expect you back a reasonable time tomorrow.”

And with the door had been slammed shut, his foster father stomping away no doubt to go get himself another beer. Of course, the night that he had to be late was on of the coldest he thought as he scorned his own luck.

I wonder if I can get to the shack? He knew no one would be around to check it out and the chances he could find his fathers notes was too good of a chance to pass up as he made his way over towards the empty dessert and closer to the sandy mountains he had grown up with.

He’s gazing upon the stars as it happens, completely oblivious to the oncoming danger before he is knocked off track. A coyote or wild dog. It’s too dark to see what his attackers are but a bunch of metal is scraped from his arm as he attempts to fight the creature off. The tearing of metal is grating to his ears and the same goes with the creature before a heavy kick to its gut makes it run off back to where it had come from.

It took him an extra few hours to get to the shack after the attack, dragging his fragmented body towards the run down shack that sits lone after the fire that stole the actual house part of the building. It’s in there he finds a bunch of random harvested parts, none of them look human some with strange writing or sign on them. He doesn’t know what time it is all he does is that the suns been up for quite a while. When rustling through the box of old scrap he finds a knife with a strange glowing stone and a name tag that only says, “from mum”. He takes it with him as he moves to the shed where an old hoverbike lays covered by a tarp. After at least a day’s work of basically seeing what works and what doesn’t he closes back up his wounds and he notices a photo of his dad and him hung on the wall.

Crap he’s still the same size?  He’s going to need to find himself new parts at one point or another.

Working with the left over materials he has from the random crates, disregarding anything with fire damage into its own box, it takes him a day to figure out how to make himself a few inches taller without elongating his legs too much more than his arms. Happy with everything he collects a random bag to go stuff with some but not all of the metallic pieces and makes his way back over to the town, it doesn’t seem too late in the day but who knows by the time he gets there plus he doesn’t really want to give his foster father the satisfaction of being right and would much prefer he rot in a cell for child neglect or at best not even be allowed to foster a kid to be able to get the spare change for beer.

By the time he enters the library its hardly 5pm as he makes his way over to the earth science section of the library to see if he can find a book to help him identify the type of metal he’s made out of. After about 15 minutes of that two police offers walk up to him and requests that he go to the station with them for being a suspected missing person they had been searching for.

It takes 3 hours for his foster father to be put on for an investigation due to child abuse and negligence and an hour after that he’s back in the group home, starting fight to keep others away from the metal in a bag and after a few months he’s going to the garrison.

At least in the garrison its easier to make his way to the shack being a shorter distance than in the group home or foster fathers house. They don’t have classes on the weekends, so he normally tracks down there Friday to return to the garrison midday on Sundays which he spends the rest of the day with Shiro.

“Hey bud, I don’t see you around much on weekends? Where do you go off to?”

He knew he should have expected this by now and honestly, he was surprised it had taken Shiro so long to ask him.

“I have a place not to far out from here about two hours or so walk. Belonged to someone I knew.”

Knew, he doesn’t think he ever knew his dad, but Shiro drops the topic for a few hours till his brain catches up when they are walking back to Shiro’s onsite apartment.

“Wait Keith, you walk for two hours in the desert after Fridays and back again on Sundays? Not to mention the closest city is about a half an hour drive from here and takes a day’s worth of hiking.”

“Oh, it’s in the desert yeah, by some small mountains, there’s a small town not large enough to have a good internet connection most days that I can go to for necessities using an old hoverbike that’s mine.”

Shiro just stares at him before saying,

“Keith. You can keep the hoverbike here in the garrison if you want to, its probably safer should you need supplies to fix it. I can talk to Samuel Holt about getting you all the clearance to do so till then it can stay in my guest car space, I’ve only got the one car as I use the garrisons hoverbikes so it’s no issues.”

He’s happy that Shiro isn’t forcing him to stay on campus and it takes a few days before Shiro gets him the clearance to keep his hoverbike in a designated area with even a few engineers complementing the adjustments he made to it.

Chapter Text

He’s certain he can here the metal gears of his own body turn as he takes in the simulator.

Kerberos.

How could they disrespect the best pilots and engineers the Garrison had has by this stupid simulator? He’s certain he broke something when punching Iverson, he hopes he broke something in Iverson as well. Wasn’t he Sam's friend? Shiro and Matt's teacher?

He was kicked out an hour later and he almost wants to spit on the damn building that stabbed him in the back after offering an opportunity to find out what’s wrong with him. Now the Garrison has lost four in such a brief time. He wonders if the simulator is still running, he should’ve broken that to.

“I AM NOT GOING BACK TO THAT FUCKING GROUP HOME.” How could they even think he’d put up with that? To many homes had all lasted the same, why did they even bother? It’s not like he won’t be old enough to leave soon anyway.

He sneaks out half an hour later to his shack.

His gears turn as he relocates what broke. He knows he’s a good engineer and he wants to use it to his own benefit, the signal he’s tracking can always be done at odd times but food won’t last forever and like hell he wants to deal with those damn beasts again without more than a knife left for him by a woman who could leave him with no answers.

Its his first time back in an actual city for his first job. The interview was online, a man with the surname Garrett.

“Welcome! How can I help you today?”

“Uh hello Mr. Garrett, it’s Keith, for the job position?”

“Oh! Keith Kogane, right? Its good to meet you! Let’s get you started, and I can show you around.”

The bed creaks and grinds under his weight, for a second, he worries that the bedframe will give out but after a moment all that can be heard is the wind outside. He is thankful that his job at the auto-repair shop has been going well, Garrett being happy with the work he achieves often mentioning his son who goes to the garrison being a year younger than him but still not getting it as fast when his kid begun helping with the cars. He just smiles and nods knowing his kid has probably heard of him if not been held back in drills because of his actions, he doesn’t feel too bad about any of it though because if anything it was more practice for all of them.

Would Shiro have been mad at his actions? He knew he couldn’t stay and maybe his way out of the garrison was an easy way out.

He’d been working at the repair shop for a few weeks now when a woman enters the shop, something stands out about her but he can’t care enough to find out as he takes her name and licence to check in their system for her previous repairs done on her sons car as the woman rattles of about how her sons sister crashed it on her way to the airport so she’s getting everything serviced for him. “Okay Ms. McClain, your son has had his car serviced recently so everything’s up to date, I’ll start on the repairs now if you could please enter the office their to get a quote from Mr. Garrett, it should be ready in a few hours we’ll give you a call once it is.”

He hurried to move onto the car working through everything like a routine, the son has a photo of himself on the driver side, he recognises him slightly wasn’t his name Tailor? Or Taylor? He can never remember, as he ignores it to replace a few more broken parts on the front, letting Mr. Garrett know once he’s done before he drives off towards whatever’s pulling him for the few hours left of daylight.

“Where are those damn batteries?” passes through his lips as he stands on a random chair looking up in the small roof storage space, he might have to adjust his height once he figures out what the lion carvings mean.

“FUCK-!” His elbow pushes a box of stuff over on the ground. He jumps down to pick everything up when a photo catches his eyes.

It’s a photo of his dad and Sam Holt.

Sam knew his dad? He probably recognised his last name. Would Sam's wife know about his mum? He knows it’s unlikely, but she at least deserves a copy of the photo, although part of him wants to check up on both Sam’s wife and his daughter they’re missing half their family.

Why is he doing this? He should just leave a copy of the photo with a note that he wrote out at the library. Hell, even work would be better than this! The dinging of the doorbell interrupts his train of thoughts as he hears someone approach the door.

Colleen as she says her name is looks terrible, her eyes are red rimmed and looks as though they have been for a while now and her hair looks slightly ruffled, he wasn’t expecting much different, but she looks like she had been hit by a truck.

“Colleen if you don’t mind me asking are you okay? Is Katie at school Matt mentioned her a few times?”

This is unfortunately the wrong move as the woman’s eyes fill with tears that she blinks back a moment later.

“Katie has gone missing, I know she had taken Kerberos hard but to go missing? I know she’s smart but she’s not exactly streets smart you know? It was a fight everyday to get her to go to school and one day she went with no hassle, and I haven’t seen her since.”

Oh, how could someone abandon such a nice mother?

“I’m sorry.”

“Ah don’t be I apologise for just dumping that out, is there anything else I can help you with though? I can get you something to take home with you and thank you for the photo its nice having a photo of Tex, I was never able to keep this one.”

“Thank you, Colleen, I do have a question though did you ever know anything about my mother?”

The woman was stunned at this before responding,

“You never got to know anything about her either? I am so sorry Keith no one knew anything about her the closest we got was him saying that she was out of this world or the time that a woman had returned on his bike after being out in the canyon but she never said a word and her figure was hidden by her protective gear, I can only guess that’s who she was as Tex never called a woman ‘darling’.”

Typical. No one knew of the woman who was supposedly his mother. He left in an apologised hurry as he went off to work taking with him some baked goods to share with his team during break.

He never did get around to increasing his height.

Chapter Text

Part of him thinks that he instinctively recoginises the ships that head towards them, like their embedded in what would have been his bones should his skin not have incased the hard metal only ever illuminated by the purple lights reminiscent of veins. Like the humming of the warship he and a few others stand in something he can see himself as. Why did he let those people into his shack?

He only then sees that same haunting light in the ship that chases them through the worm hole.

The ship rattles softly through the thin mattress of the bed, he feels a slight pull towards where Allura had steered the ship, another to where the lions lay charging after the 10,000 years and finally smaller pulls to each life form on the ship. He never realised these were things he could sense, assuming that everyone being so tightly nit together on earth made it seem like nothing. 

Can humans feel that pull? Perhaps he should have paid more attention to learning them rather then what he could be.

The siren goes off before he can think about stuff like that any further.

He knows that he needs to stay safe and avoid injury, not only does he lack the metal of which he knows can protect him but should he loose conscious for any reason the others could potentially find out he is different from everyone else on the ship whether it be from them seeing his metal insides or that they attempt to put him in a pod, he doesn't feel like finding out of he can power off now. Saying so however is different from doing so.

Hes already faced critical injuries, his limbs being held together by other parts of himself as he tries to use his suit to hide any imperfections that his body may show. Since the mice told Allura about the fact that Pidge is a girl he's made it firm with both them and Allura that it is a violation of their privacy and should they be a team it is boundaries they must respect.

He knows he is a liability. One accident away from being considered scrap metal but he still pulls himself forward and will continue to do so till he is no more then a pile of rust. He ignores Red as they try to push their concern onto him. 

He's well and truly fucked as it happens this time. His arms basically been ripped off from his torso, then stomped on as the robot had tried to get closer towards him before it had been shot in the head, Lance standing wide eyed staring at him from down the hallway in the ship. Purple lights illuminate his teammates shock as they begin to run forward after shooting a few other bots in their torso that had been behind himself. He can feel the ever present pull of others stronger than usual. 

"KEITH, WHAT HAPPENED?" 

His words pull him out of whatever trance he was in as he shoots down to grab his arm before he sprints off locking himself in whatever storage unit is closer, unfortunately for him its one with cleaning supplies not ship repair supplies which he could have at least used. 

He's going to end up as scrap.

 He's going to end up as scrap. 

He's going to end up as scrap. He's going to end up as scrap.

 He's going to end up as scrap. He's going to end up as scrap. 

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He can hardly hear the bashing of the door over his thoughts. There's a sizzling and creaking sound that he recognises from his years of auto repair when metal is being heated, a purple light is illuminating his face as the pieces of door is being cut away but his own arm hums its own light as a puddle of something leaks from his arm however all of this goes unnoticed while his mind is repeating itself.

His arm is held tightly to his chest, his breath is running a marathon, his mouth spews out the repeated works 'he's going to end up as scrap' so fast that they have mushed together obscured from the two paladins who have joined the shaking boy in the storage room.

All Shiro can think of is how it reminds him so much of the child he knew before Kerberos. But how different he is and how similar they are, as his eyes lock onto the arm clutched like a lifeline by the boy he considers his brother.

Chapter Text

All it took was an arm in his view, despite it being one belonging to a human he reacted the same as he would with anything else, he struck.

He ran.

He had been caught.

Thin arms had wrapped around his torso, trapping his only arm his other lay abandoned from his attempted to run. But he couldn't have even seen it with his body pumped through with adrenaline, he would have been able to break free and run should his body have been mended not the state it was currently in. He knew his struggles were tangling up the wires covered by only the fabric of his suit, his skin torn from the previous battles, he knew that this would make it harder for him to repair himself but those thoughts were but a drop of water in his river of issues the main waterfall of it being the need to escape the arms trapping him.

There was a robotic sort of screaming like a children's toy had its voice box smashed and broken, a harsh representation of how bad of a state he's in happened to be what had freed him from the arms that hold him as they move the block his mouth yet the echoing vibrations of it still linger.

He bit.

He clawed.

And finally he could run.

He ran and ran till he could no longer a metal arm gripped him like the dogs did all those years ago.

Why couldn't he have been powered off?

Those beasts had dug into his metal body.

Why was he still here when everyone who was supposed to love him left?

The pain radiated through every joint as he let out a scream more human than not.

Why didn't he get answers?

Scrap.

He's just going to be tossed aside again.

Why did he mend himself rather than just wait for him to rust?

"You're okay Keith..."

His body was pressed against something warm, a heart beating, a warm body, not something cold and unnatural like he is.

His legs give out one of the old pieces holding himself together breaks. 

He feels the person holding him grip tighten carrying the weight of him like one would for something special, something alive.

He hears peoples voices coming towards them, he wants to protect those arms who hold him like one would family.

"Its okay Keith, I've got you Ototo." 

It is his family, his brother, his mentor, his friend.      He had stayed.

For the first time ever, he thinks he shuts off. Safe. He's not scrap.

"Shiro, what happened?" Lance breaks the silence as he watches his teammates eyes go dark before the light from Keith's missing arm dims significantly and any movement stills.

"I," Shiro stops for a second eyes trained on the limp body of his brother in his arms, "I don't know Lance, and I don't know how much Keith even knows."

"Keith, he was mumbling... Scraps, he thought he would be left behind like scraps Shiro."

Shiro's arms had tightened more protectively around the limp body.

"My brother is not scraps. Lance, could you grab Keith's arm, I'm going to radio over Hunk to grab red while I take Keith back. It would be best for him to wake up somewhere familiar."

Chapter Text

"I hardly even recognise these metals Shiro, it's like someone has welded a mix of foreign and earth metals together, I don't even know how he runs because as it is my scans show similar energy to the lions in him." Shiro's eyes are locked onto Keith's body, his own room in the ship modified so he doesn't have to be too far from his brother yet Pidge and Hunk often are in trying to work out what's happening with their fallen teammate. 

"Then we get Allura or Coran in to read his levels, Allura can locate the lions so surely she could be help trying to get Keith to wake?"

Pidge just stares at him blankly before turning her own head over to Keith,

"Shiro right now I don't think the best choice is to wake Keith,"

Shushing Shiro from denying her right then she continues,

"He had shows signs of pain and can probably feel it, we've already ruled out the pods as a way he can heal so that means we have to do everything manually and having him unconscious would be most likely preferred."

This pauses him for a few moments before he responds,

"Pidge as much as I don't want him to feel everything as you said you don't know how he runs and how he was built, Keith definitely did have some knowledge as I have seen his skills fixing his hoverbike plus if there is earth metals in him what are the chances that was Keith? He would have been fixing himself up here if he had the means too but I don't think he wants to add foreign things into his own body that could put him down."

"Yes, Shiro, I'll go run a few tests and ask Allura and Coran for help once Hunk calls us down for food."

Nodding towards the younger, Shiro heads towards the training room. Maybe it is good to take some advice from Keith and fight out emotions, he huffs a silent laugh and begins training.

How is Keith a robot?

How does he run? 

How could Galran blood run through his body should it not even be flesh? 

Why didn't he say anything? Even to him, his brother.

Why did he have to push himself to the point he broke?

He's sitting on a chair in the desk of his room, Coran moves carefully inspecting Keith's arm but he can see the mans fleeting glances to his arm. The purple lights don't turn off but they never brighten to what they use to be, he fears the day instead of lighting up they dim past what can be restored.

Coran shakes his head and goes over to Pidge confirming the use of Galran tech before they bring in Allura to try work out how he is powered. Hunk and Pidge still believe they should start work on repairing him, their plans have already been drawn up but he's still hesitant to agree. Keith wouldn't want to be worked on without his own consent it should be up to him to make the decision to strip Keith of all he's known and change how he has built himself.

The air in the kitchen is slightly tense with anticipation, Allura kicking everyone out of his room as she does what she needs to Shiro decides a team working activity would be best to keep everyone's minds of what's going on as they move around the kitchen in sync as to not bump into each other with Hunk as an acting leader ensuring everyone stays on task even Coran helps though mainly with cooking.

The blades had radioed in a while ago to let them know that they can provide aid for Keith's situation, apparently they had been able to find a copy of Keith's blueprints with their other species files from his mother and was able to obtain his blue prints and parts that they need with Kolivan and Antok coming in themselves to provide everything while monitoring their youngest blade.

They arrived just as Allura had finished and announce to the group of them,

"I unfortunately couldn't get him to wake, but, Pidge you were right his energy is similar to the lions with him having a small connection to all of the lions despite only having flown the Red Lion." 

"Allura that actually sounds true because it was Keith who knew were the Blue lion was on earth despite not being able to narrow it down exactly by the time Shiro crashed and we helped him find it at last." Lance piped up in return.

Kolivan's voice interrupted the hopeful silence.

"Yes but we must work out how he's running, I have been looking over his blue prints on our way here and a Balmera crystal should not be able to sustain a life form for as long as it was doing so and the fact that he could awaken his blade is another factor of which I am unsure about." 

"Hunk and I can help you look over the blue prints is it possible to get in contact to Keith's parent/s in order for us to work this out?"

"I am sorry green paladin however Keith's mother is on a deep space mission that we can not interfere with it else it shall cost her life."

"No sorry Pidge, I had custody over Keith during his time in the garrison, there are no records of his father."

"Then we might as well begin, his body may be in to bad of shape for him to wake up, I'm sorry Shiro but right now we do need Voltron and to show Keith hes not just scrap metal. What better way is it to show him that he's not then fix him up? Kolivan we might need help to differ each of the parts especially if Keith has been altering them over the years can we trust you'll have members ready for help?"

The man in question nodded as everyone got into their respective roles.

Chapter Text

Paper was spread across the walls in a way that was so unorganised it looked organised, wires hung upon every surface while metal had been collected in a box by the large desk two of the paladins were working on, in a further of desk a blade of Marmora agent continued to work naming the pieces of the metal that he could when asked and their purpose. Between the two desks however lay a bed not unlike one found in a hospital. On the bed lay Keith unconscious for a concerning month now. The purple light never faded but his arm was almost ready to be returned to place. Several other areas of his broken body had been repaired already parts of the fake skin had yet to be returned. 

Shiro's breath caught every time he entered the workshop, distraught over his brother. The universe waited for nobody yet Keith's lone body on that bed looked like he was frozen in time. His face so young, almost to young for his age.

He ran his fingers through the strands of the younger boys hair dissociating till he felt it under his hand, movement.

Pidge, Hunk and the BOM agent where all at their respective desks. His eyes locked onto the beginning to open ones but the three others all turned at the additional purple light. 

He felt like shit.

Like he had gone head first off the hill Shiro and himself use to ride down with no gear and crashed.

A groan had past his lips as his head tilted back towards the hand on his head, he opened his eyes to see a tired and concerned Shiro. But overall Shiro looked hopeful?

"What on earth happened..?"

He tested out his mobility, surprisingly he seemed more put together than when he was on the last mission- 

The last mission.

They knew.

His arm didn't quite work.

He wasn't scrap?

Did he power off?

"You tell us buddy..." Shiro's voice sounded relieved and a closer look showed him that Shiro's eyes were watching him moving before Shiro's eyes settled on the twitching arm. His gaze soon joined Shiro's.

"Ah, I broke again..." He mumbled sitting up and hearing his gears turn more so than usual, he must be missing some bits and pieces. 

That got the attention of others though before another voice spoke out, spooking Keith to the additional presents in the room.

"Again? Keith is that why a whole lot of your body is a mix of earth metal and Galran tech?! Not even good Galran tech a lot of this looks like it has been damaged in a fire!" Pidges voice was startling tired, looking around he saw Hunk with tears in his eyes threatening to spill and a Blade in the corner watching him.

"I had no choice. So what if some of what I am made of isn't pristine? I don't go opening you up and commenting on the appearance of your insides!" He knew he shouldn't be to stand offish, he feels so much better but still. 

"Keith..."

"No Shiro. Just because she did fix me does not give her the right to comment on what I did to survive." His voice was basically pleading as he said this but still held the barb wires of defensiveness that basically radiated around him.

"No Keith you don't get to say you did it to survive if that survival could bring you to death in front of us! Most of this metal- We don't even know how you were running." Pidge's voice held a desperation in it that almost made him shut up but he couldn't even control the next line as if it was what he had been needing to say for years but has been locked up like a zoo animal.

"Well neither do I."

Everyone was brought to silence as his single hand flew to his mouth, he could almost feel Shiro take in a deep breath before the older man had wrapped both of his arms around him in a bone crushing hug as if he was trying to convince himself that Keith was still there and not a pile of scrap still unconscious. He almost missed the small murmur of "Don't speak like that, I already have almost lost you." 

The three others quickly moved out of the room. Pidge not before she took a minute to look him over by the door, her own eyes filled with hurt, anger, sadness. But also relief hopefully that was because he was running and could respond properly.

"I'm sorry."

"Keith you are my brother, I don't care about blood, bone or flesh. I care about you. Not how you run, if all of the metal in your body was scrap I would still be there with you helping you in anyway that I can. Because you are my brother."

Shiro held him tightly before sighing, "If you need to talk, talk to any of us we are all here together and will stand by your side no matter what."

Shiro loosened his grip when he murmured wanting to put is arm back on, he had watched silently as Keith took the tape that lay next to him to hold his arm in place as he used it to position the arm the right way before carefully moving around the room fixing the arm with a practiced ease one would not have expected being one handed. 

Shiro could almost feel his own arms gears move while he watched his brother so seamlessly reattach his own.

Chapter Text

He was not looking forward to meeting the others, after Shiro left to go get food leaving him with a spare change of clothes, he sat just watching the movements of his arm. He could feel the new pieces in himself they had a foreign feeling of a stark difference in the way they had been added too him, he didn't realise how the fact just having someone else work on his body would feel so strange.

Pidge was definitely still mad, Hunk was probably the same because he had neglected his own health Shiro would fall into that same boat, Coran was probably worried as well, Allura probably felt betrayed that he still kept his origin a secret despite them knowing he was part Galra.

They all probably felt betrayed.

Lance probably most of all.

He was the first to see the secret that was locked inside him all his life.

He doesn't want to leave. There is still the gnawing at the back of his mind, the fear he could still be left for scrap despite his brothers words.

He doesn't know how long it's been before the door opened again, not before the person knocked but he didn't respond. He doesn't think he could have either way with how his mind was racing.

The blade of Marmora uniform feels fitting with how dark the room is, the purple light not as vibrant as the one that flows through his body but it blends with the blue glow of the walls seamlessly.

The agent doesn't look at him till they reach their desk, gathering some papers in their hands and using their tail to grab a few that were by Pidge and Hunks desk as they walked towards him.

"Here, these are yours young blade." He takes the paper that creases slightly under his grip, reading through them he feels so numb, a slight rattling feeling accompanies that though as he puts together what he's looking at.

His blueprints. Why could he have found them here in space but not in his shack with the scrap metal left for him.

He notices there are no plans to help his height and he laughs a little. A sound so hollow it just bounces of every bit of metal around him.

It feels like an eternity before a voice fills the room again, the blade taking the silence as a chance to speak.

"I was in a similar position when I first joined the blades, young blade, I never removed my mask it acting like a second skin to hide what is underneath. I did end up building my own family among the blades like each of us do, yet my mask stayed on."

 The blade was silent for a minute before continuing with a breath,

 "it ended a similar way too, I was to injured that the medics had no choice but to remove it, the family I made being the ones to agree with that decision saw me for the first time, some didn't look out of respect but the blade I saw as a mother knew that someone must watch and took it upon herself. She never spoke of what she saw just encouraged me when I was ready to show the ones I trusted." 

The blade took off their mask, it fading a way bringing the face of metal to light, three fourths of their face gone and replaced by metal, only their left eye remaining.

"Most of my body has been replaced by metal that use to feel foreign and a curse to bear but now it is mine I hold with hope that I can hopefully stop this from happening to others. My name is Huber and I have failed only once, but I was there with my family to help them face it together. Your family awaits for you to join them. You are not alone anymore young blade. You have so many willing to fight for you, even if you don't feel like it's something to share with them you shall always be granted to share with myself."

A knocking sound came from the door again and with approval by Keith, Coran entered, holding a plate of food.

"Ah Number Four. It's good to see you up, gave everyone quite the fright. But it matters not, only that you are all good! I've brought you some food while the other three inform everyone else on board. As you can see the Blades here have been of great help. They are all very reliable just like you paladins are all to each other."

He flinch slightly at that, he betrayed their trust he shouldn't be considered reliable.

"No one is mad lad, everyone is just tired and worried. Make sure to get some rest! We don't want you too overwhelmed Number Two and Number Five should be joining you in here once they've gotten a bit of rest themselves to make sure you are okay!" 

Put together correct was left out but he can hear it echoing through his head. At least this means he can be of help for longer. Not be thrown aside just yet.

Although part of him thinks he might be depending on how angry everyone is.

Chapter Text

The walls of the castle echoed with his footsteps, the white walls making him a standout amongst them, and towards the living area voices can be heard, as the door slides open, he turns his head to look at everyone. The Paladins and some Blades share the space, their conversations quietened down as he entered, all their eyes on him.

The all look so tired. Their faces plagued with stress.

 Even Lance looks like he has gained eye bags despite the use of his facial products that he probably still does each night.

Lance is the first to speak up, "Mullet! It’s good to see you're up and back in shape!" Hunk nodding along. 

Ne nodded as he moved towards everyone, his voice quiet as he spoke, 

"I would like to say I'm sorry that I saw the need to hide who I am from you all, that was unfair to you."

He was sorry that his actions caused people worry, but he wasn't going to be sorry for who he is. He didn't get a choice. He was built and he still doesn’t know if he can be powered off. He would apologise for where the metal in his body came from, how he had the ability to be from earth but ran with materials of the same empire that has the Universe enslaved should they ask him to but he is unlikely to do it unprompted, he doesn’t want them to realise just how different he is from them and if he can prevent them from realising then maybe they won’t isolate him as much for being so different.

Everyone but him in this room shares a similarity, they are all made of organic material. He lacks that. He almost misses the presence if it in his body, but he doesn’t think he can miss what he never had. Even if they are all different species from across the universe, he will always be a stark difference from them.

He could see the looks of shock and surprise from Hunk and Lance, both probably not having expected him to say that. It almost surprises him too, why wouldn’t he apologise? He’s the one in the wrong, they should be angry at him.

"Hey, it's fine man! We all have stuff that we don’t want to share, I think it's awesome that you are like a really cool Galran robot but are still so nice! Not that Galran robots are mean I did not mean to say it like that-" 

"Thanks Hunk, I understand."

Did he though? Wasn't it mean of him to be so closed off. Wasn't it mean to not tell them that he wasn't even human?

He did not voice any of this. He doesn't believe he will be brave enough to ever voice any of it.

Nobody talked for a few minutes everyone clearly had questions, but he didn't know if he had answers.

"Well Hunk and I should give you a quick check up, Coran might join us."

It was kind of strange having someone, who wasn't even a doctor, giving him a check up but he had never actually had a doctors visit so who knows. He wonders what it would have been like if any of his caregivers did sign the permission slip for him to get his immunisation before he got to it first, a foreign liquid amongst his metal bones didn’t seem the most pleasant.

Back in the room from before, Shiro's room, Huber was still sorting through bits and bobs while talking with Coran, his mask firmly back in place. It looked so dead in here now that most of the paper had been removed from the walls, none of Shiro’s own possession in sight.

He sat back onto the bed, crossing his arms over his torso like a too tight hug or like he was protecting his own insides.

The check up itself went through quietly while Hunk had asked him to do basic functions making sure that everything was in place while doing so, Pidge had asked him various questions about whether he knew what part of him accomplished that either they didn’t know or had wanted to make sure he knew. Huber had gone through the silent task of helping both the paladins, passing them tools or pointing to a bit of him they were looking for. Coran had absently begun collecting the parts of him too broken to be used to dispose of, humming while he was at it. He thinks he gave them all a fright when he casually removed his arm and dug a piece out of it claiming that it had been bugging him and had no use. Pidge took that piece and brought it to the blueprints to try work out what it had done, Hunk had looked a tad pale at the arm that casually rested between his thighs, with wires still connecting to his torso but a purple hued light illuminating the path of those wires.

“Keith if you don’t mind me asking do you know what causes the lights? Its something we noticed while you were unconscious?”

The use of the word unconscious had felt foreign to him, he doesn’t think it was the right word but he doesn’t know what else to describe it as. He doesn’t voice these thoughts just responds to Pidge as if they didn’t exist.

“No. They don’t turn off though, never have. However, they go even through my own additions despite my lack of adding anything there that could produce light.”

That has the three of them – Coran has moved out to find a piece better fitting in his arm –stumped there is no reason they are there, nothing written even by Keith’s mother about the lights that almost haunt his body.

The next words that come out of Huber's mouth stun the three paladins into silence.

All Keith can think of is the truth in his words.

“The light reminds me of the quintessence the druids produce from the raw quintessence they harvest.”

All eyes in the room are on his arm, the light that feels like it ghosts his soul. All but his own that are locked onto his hand. It had turned a similar shade of purple upon the contact of the raw quintessence.

Chapter Text

The young blade hasn’t been seen since the green and yellow paladin tugged him off to a check up.

Yet the impression of him being up has clearly made a difference in everyone, the Altean Princess fingers no longer tap endlessly and her eyes don’t wander as fast as if looking for the red paladin, the blue paladins shoulders have lowered with relief as he chats his head off to Antok who – despite only having really met the young blade during his trials – tail is no longer swooshing around as agitated as before. Even the advisor seems more at piece as if his facial hair expresses his language with his moustache looking relaxed somehow? Must just be an Altean thing. The black paladin hasn’t been seen for a while though.

He finds himself thinking back to how Keith had stood amongst them, his limbs tight in a way that they were like during his trial, he had been ready to bolt come a seconds notice. He had clearly taken note of everyone and thing in the room upon entry, even where the mice lay on Princess Allura’s lap. The words he spoke were strong but hesitant, he knew that he was built of metal, yet he felt no remorse for that fact – something he was proud of -. Apologising only for his lack of trust among those he works with. Part of him wonders why the universe may be so against the young blade, left without answers, so foreign amongst those he would have gone to that ‘galaxy garrison’ the paladins are from.

The young one has worked hard with what he has already accomplished even if his methods of not telling the others that he had been so injured that his body should have been destroyed already. He has already surpassed a lot of the BoM agents of his rank and is moving up them fast. The Blades age concerns him but its war as much as he disagrees with children fighting in it, Keith would put up a fight that would leave a lot of his members out of action should he do something about it. At least having Keith as one of his own ensures he can watch the paladin and keep him as safe as he can in a war the favours none but the leaders of the empire.

All of the Paladins have worked hard but they will need to work harder to achieve their goals.

When the green and yellow paladin walk out chatting amongst themselves, he almost misses the fact that Keith is following, stress seems to make the young one either respond with anger or shrink to be almost unnoticeable, to see such a flame dim is almost like watching a star disappear from the vastness of the universe.

 You only notice it if you are close enough to see it, else you only notice it once pointed out to you.

“Keith, Antok and I were going to go train would you like to join us?” Before speaking out to the rest of the participants in the room, “You all are welcome to join us should you wish, I ask you to offer the same to Huber should he show himself here before the training deck.”

Keith nods as Antok swiftly rises to join the trio heading to the training deck, the three paladins all decline bringing Lance with them to the kitchen where he can expect Hunk plans to make a few dishes with the supplies brought by the blades. Surprisingly though, Allura agrees but mentions she will go check on Shiro after a while. The mice stay with the advisor in the lounge as he works on fixing a broken translator for the blue paladin.

The training room is quiet and despite the fact that the castle has self-cleaning technologies it almost seems like the room has gained a layer of dust without Keiths constant training in there, it’s almost sad to see but he is relaxed himself at seeing the way that the young blade almost calms completely and has a new sense of life upon entering.

They warm up with a lap around the deck before going off into pairs to spar, he doesn’t go easy on Keith, the both of them going straight for each other weapons raised that bring the sensation of pins and needles into their hands upon impact. Antok and Allura go for hand-on-hand combat training focusing on dodging each other rather than attacking.

A small part of his brain tugs that Keiths moves are almost robotic in the way he repeats actions;

Up

Down

Dodge

Right

Dodge

Up

Down

Dodge

Left

Dodge.

He forces the boy to be thinking outside of the box, jumping when Keith would have prepared for him to go right, running when a dodge would have worked better for this sort of spar.

It’s almost like a parent playing with their kit. He almost misses the way Antok starts guffawing if it wasn’t so loud, Allura to seems to be also trying to reign in a small fit of giggles.

They finish as Allura announces her departure to go check on Shiro, Keith still confused by the gruff laughing that was Antok almost left to follow before Huber joined them and smacked the tailed Galra on the back of his head leading to a small fight between the two Galra.

He decides to use this moment to speak up,

“I do apologise if Antok startled you Keith, it was the way we had been training that had caught his attention.”

“The way we had been training?” If the boy had Galran ears he bet it would have been amusing to watch as he tried to connect the dots he didn’t have information on.

“Yes. You are young for someone of the Galra race, a kit your age would have only just begun training practice.”

“So your telling me I fought like a child?”

“No. I am saying that the goal of that was to have fun rather than to fight for a win.”

The boy nodded his head but he still had a feeling the young blade didn’t understand to well. But the young one had been distracted by the two older Galra’s in the room who had begun play fighting in a similar manner to what he had just been doing.

The door had slid open and in come a better rested black paladin,

“Hello I do apologise for my absence, Coran had to disconnect the common speakers through the castle ship due to Lances translator messing with them.”

“No need black paladin what can we help you with?” All four of their attention on the man at the door.

“Hunk has finished with Lunch, after we eat Allura also wanted to know if we should begin planning again.”

“Understood, my agents and I will be with you soon once we freshen up.”

The dining room was a mess of action. Unsurprising considering the quietness that had haunted the walls of the castle the past few weeks.

The blue was on top of the table, a random mid-length wash cloth tied around his neck giving it a cape like appearance that ended around where his ribs sat.

The green paladin had a tool in her hand that she pointed like a staff towards the paladin in blue, her trash creatures followed behind her in a line each with a different drawn set of eyebrows – all looking like they were angry.

The yellow paladin had a pot lid in his arms shielding the food while wearing what he can only assume the matching pot is on his head like a helmet.

“I SIR LANCE-A-LOT CHALLENGE THY PIDGE OF THE TRASH FOR THE FIRST SERVING!”

The trash floofs behind the green paladin all had opened their mouth, looking as if they were about to scream in rage despite nothing coming out of them.

“NEVER!” The green paladin retaliated before announcing to her small army, “CHARGE!”

The yellow paladin swatted the one trash floof that came towards the food with a random utensil before it had joined the rest of the fluff that attacked the blue paladin.

However upon noticing their added company had quietly announced them over for the first serve of food, the two paladins not noticing the fact that they were too late until Allura spoke up with the mice trailing her and Coran heading to the kitchen to grab his own food.

“Paladins we do have guests, and a war between two of you doesn’t seem like team work.”

The two in questions shot looks of betrayal to Hunk for not saving the winner the first serve before finally joining the rest for a meal.

He was happy that the paladins seemed much more upbeat now that Keith had awoken.