Chapter Text
“Keith!” “Keith, get up!” “No! Keith!” “Let him go!”
A shout and a clang. “Keith!”
A cackling laugh.
Keith groaned and tried to focus. His mind felt sluggish, his vision tilting. He vaguely registered his team mates on the other side of a purple-ish particle barrier, all yelling and banging against it. He blinked hard to clear his thoughts. A face, no, a mask, appeared in front of him.
“It is time for you to realize your potential” they hissed. What…
They raised their hands and a ball of purple-black energy shot toward him, coursing through his body. It felt like his blood turned to fire, his nerves to lightning. He heard screaming, later realizing was coming from himself.
It hurt so much.
His vision blurred and he saw the room sideways. The figure in the mask raised their arms and the barrier dissolved. The other paladins rushed forward right as the figure vanished, just avoiding Shiro’s lit hand.
Hunk and Pidge appeared above him, saying something he couldn’t hear. Then Lance and Shiro were there too. Two fingers pressed against his neck and Shiro shouted something, looking over his shoulder.
The next thing Keith knew he was being carried. Going by how one arm was cold and hard it was Shiro. Lance was ahead of them, blasting away at enemy troops. Pidge was going at it more to one side. Yellow flashes told him Hunk wasn’t far behind. In the distance the castle gleamed in all its glory, waiting for them.
“Hang on, buddy” Shiro said, his voice sounding far away. Then Keith blacked out.
“Oh no, is he all right?” Allura’s voice brought him back to consciousness.
“We don’t know, he just-” Shiro stopped as Keith groaned and opened his eyes.
Why was everyone staring at him? Even the mice were sitting on Allura’s shoulder.
“What’s going on?” He mumbled and Hunk let out a sigh of relief, smiling nervously. “Well-”
“Dude you really had us worried-” Pidge interrupted, and Allura ran over her.
“How are you feeling?”
He slowly sat up, with the help of many hands, before answering. “Uh, fine actually…”
It was true. He only felt a little tired and dizzy, all the burning discomfort gone.
“How can you be fine? You just had some serious voodoo laid on you bro!” Lance blurted in classic Lance fashion.
Keith blinked, confused. “Huh?”
Coran helped him out. “He means you might have been shocked, or cursed, or something, by that Druid.”
“Huh?!”
“He means you’ll be fine Keith, just take it easy” Shiro said with a sigh.
Huh.
Keith thought back to the mission. Storming the Galra battlement, kicking butt until a couple of witch psychos show up. His memory got a bit fuzzy after that. Getting captured, the team rushing in to save him…
“Well that mission was a bust.”
Everyone sighed and Hunk said “More like a complete disaster.”
“Cheer up everyone,” Allura put in, ever the optimist. “At least everyone made it back in one piece and no lions got captured. It could have been a lot worse.”
There was a chorus of “Yeah” “I guess” “That’s true” “Good point” and “You’re right” Shiro turned to the group, hands on his hips, all leader.
“Good work today team, even it didn’t go that smooth. We tried our best and that’s good for something. You’ve all earned a rest and some food.”
Coran’s ear twitched. “Maybe I could be of assistance for that last one.”
There was a group-wide groan.
“That’s okay Coran, I’ll just whip something up later.” said Hunk and everyone relaxed. Except Coran, who looked slightly offended.
Keith got to his feet as everyone filtered out of the room, chatting or yawning depending on their energy level. Shiro appeared at his elbow, a concerned dad look on his face. “You sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine, Shiro, don’t worry. Just a little tired” Keith answered with a little eye roll. Who needs parents when you have Shiro.
He gave a small smile and patted Keith’s shoulder. “Get some sleep then. Who knows when we’ll have another mission.”
Hopefully not anytime soon Keith thought and made his way to his room.
While he was taking off his paladin suit he noticed something. There was a purple blotch on the nape of his neck. It didn’t hurt or feel any different, it was just there.
“Hm, weird” he said out loud but he was too tired to think much of it. With a shrug he dropped onto his bed and was soon asleep.
It felt like only minutes before a knock of his door woke him. “Keith, Hunk’s got some food goo down in the mess hall, want some?” Came Pidge’s voice. She sounded about as awake as Keith felt. She must’ve taken a nap too.
He yawned and got up, stretching. “Sure, I’m coming.” He shoved his feet into his boots and put on his jacket, not bothering with the rest of his gear. His nap had left him quite hungry.
Pidge was waiting for him, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes under her glasses. “Damn if I wasn’t so hungry I would just keep sleeping.”
Keith nodded in agreement. “Even food goo sounds good.”
Pidge glanced at his ungloved hand. “Hey, did you hurt your hand?” Keith realized there was a streak of purple peeking out from under his sleeve, almost like a bruise.
But he knew better.
He quickly shoved his hand into his pocket. “Uh yeah, it’s just a bruise.” He didn’t have time to think about it though.
“Incoming!’’ someone yelled from behind them and they both jumped out of the way as Lance barreled past them, Shiro hot on his tail.
“What the-” Keith and Pidge chorused and followed apprehensively.
In the mess hall Shiro had Lance in a headlock, the latter screeching for mercy. Allura was scolding them both. Keith and Pidge looked at Hunk, standing idly by, for an explanation.
“Lance caught Shiro sleeping” he giggled and watched their jaws drop.
It was long assumed Shiro just didn’t sleep. The other paladins were constantly trying to catch him at it, to no avail. This was a big deal. Eventually Allura pulled the two apart and everyone settled down.
“Well?” Keith asked quietly when Lance sat down.
“He looked like an angel when he’s asleep” Lance whispered back. Keith bit back a laugh, which earned them a glare from Shiro. They both feigned more interest than usual in their food.
Lance suddenly gasped and reached for Keith’s hand. “Dude what did you do to your hand?”
Keith was just fast enough to swipe it out of sight before he could grab him. “Nothing, just a bruise.”
“That’s one hell of a bruise, man. You should get it looked at.”
Keith tried his best to pull his sleeve down over his hand. It was almost as if the spot grew… This was getting weird. “It’s fine.”
Lance noticed something else and gasped again. “Wait, you’re not wearing your emo gloves!”
“Excuse me?” Keith spat but Lance was rambling.
“You never take off your gloves. I didn’t even think you washed them. Like they were fused to you. What made you take them off?”
Keith groaned. “If it means so much to you, I’ll put them back on, just to shut you up.” And see what’s up with my hand he thought.
Lance threw up his hands indifferently. “Whatever man, look like an emo Macgyver if you want.”
“I will hurt you, Lance.” Keith shoved down the rest of his food and stood up to leave. “Thanks for the eats, Hunk.”
“Sure thing”
Lance was still trying to figure out something to say back at Keith.
Back in the comfort of his room, Keith stared at his hand. The purple streak had spread from the back of his hand up his arm farther than he could roll up the sleeve. Really creeped out now, he yanked off his jacket and shirt, and made a small surprised noise.
Not a squeak, definitely not a squeak, but equally surprised. There were purple streaks and blotches all over him, shoulders, arms, stomach, back, everywhere.
Keith stared at his wide eyed reflection in the mirror in front of him. “What’s happening…?” he whispered.
He really hoped we wasn’t dying of some alien skin cancer. He debated whether or not to tell Allura, Coran, or maybe Shiro. Someone to help.
No, he decided, he would handle this himself.
But it only grew worse.