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I grumbled to myself as I glided down the halls of the castle, bored out of my mind. Since Allura was dealing with political matters, and Keith was busy dealing with the other paladins. I never thought that I would be able to trust anyone from Zarkon’s side, but after seeing the way he was treated, that wasn’t a soldier. That was a victim and a slave.I don’t think Allura would have let him join us and pilot the red lion, even after she chose him, but still, he was lucky to have Shiro vouch for him. Apparently, the half-breed was forced to fight in the arena as well, and was forced to fight, but then to also look after and help heal any opponent he didn’t kill, one of them being Shiro.Still, working with a Galran is one thing, but dating one, that was a whole other level of things most people don’t touch. But I guess I kinda knew he was different from when I first met him, coming out of the lion after we tried to retrieve it. it was pure luck he was on that ship, at that exact time, having just about to be transported to a different ship in a few vargas.I fear that if we had waited to make a move on the red lion, we would not have gotten her paladin at the same time and would have pushed back the battle for freedom by phoebs. When my Uncle Alfor shoved me in a pod next to Allura, he had asked me to keep her safe. I assumed that meant I was to take her off planet, but when I agreed, I was shoved into a pod, and while I slept, the word I once knew was now gone, and there as no way for me or anyone else to stop it, not after Zarkon killed the paladins.I feel my hands tremble as I remind myself of everything I have been through, and everything that has been done to my world and my people. Zarkon killed billions and he still hasn’t stopped. But now things were different, I myself was a paladin now. I will be the leg that supports Voltron and I will assist them in bring down Zarkon, no one else needs to die under his domination any longer.I sigh and stop walking, letting myself stand in the middle of the hallway, arms wrapping around myself trying to stop the trembling. I am not in a state to be seen by anyone, I must retire to my room before Allura or any else sees me, heaven forbid Keith sees me in this state. I cannot be seen being weak, it will prevent any alliances from happening and then I will face the wrath of Allura.“So, Red Paladin, it is odd to see a Galran on this side of the war. Are you a spy?” A new voice echoed down the empty halls. I moved to follow the sound and found Keith, being ‘entertained’ by a Dorian. I grimaced as the large blue creature leaned over Keith, getting to close for comfort. What hurt the most was that Keith didn’t push the Dorian away, if anything, it looked like he was leaning closer to him.“No, I am not a spy. As you noticed I am a paladin, the lion chose me herself. If I were truly on the other side of the war, she would not have let me in and not let me bond with her.” The Dorian nods and stares at Keith with eyes akin to attraction to a mate. I frown, my heart becoming lodged in my throat, my stomach flipped.“Well then Young Paladin, you must be single. I do not see any mating marks bore across your skin. If you were mine, I would never let you out of my room.” A cough escapes my lips as I choke from the words leaving the Dorian’s mouth. I watch as both heads flash up to stare at me.I watch as the Galran’s ears curl down against his head, tail curling in shame. I grimace and turn around, taking the long way back to my quarters, not wanting to deal with any other meetings.I placed my hand on the scanner and as it flashed green, my door slid open. I moved into the room, making sure to lock Keith out of the room, just in case he tries to come and visit me. My shoulders sagged as I tore off the official garment of Altean Royalty and threw on civilian clothes, before crawling into my bed and burying myself in the covers, muttering to myself and saying that I will not be leaving this room unless Voltron is needed.*“Lance, let me in! This isn’t funny!” I groan when the voice of Pidge echoes through the room. “I’ll hack the door if you don’t let me in!” I roll my eyes at the paladin’s words, not completely understand what they meant by ‘hack’, but I believed it meant opening my door with force and I was not in the mood for that.“I’m coming, Pidge. Jeez, can’t a royal sleep around here?” I grumble to them as I open the door from my side. “What is happening? Is there an attack?” Pidge frowned, looking to the ground, not answering me. I frown and rest a hand on their small shoulder.“Pidge, what’s going on? You can tell me.” They sigh and look up at me,“Keith attacked the Dorian he was escorting for a tour of the castle. We had to lock Keith up so that he—” I shove Pidge away and burst of my room.“You locked him in the basement, didn’t you?!” I screamed, a fury coming over me. Pidge nods and looks down meekly.“We didn’t know what else to do, he wouldn’t stop fighting.” I growl and race towards the elevator, riding it down to the basement. Didn’t any of them realise, Keith's afraid of the dark. And the cells, and anything that reminds him of his abuse from his time in the empire.I swore at the others. How could they have been so stupid, even Shiro should have understood that being locked up the way they were is going to have an effect on their mental states when recurring themes appear before them.Once the elevator beeped for the bottom floor of the castle, I waited impatiently for the doors to open and when they did, I wasn’t happy with what I saw. Keith, locked in a cage, barely big enough for him to lay down in. I snarled, and moved over, tearing the door off and dragging Keith out of the cage.“Keith baby, it’s me, Lance? Can you hear me? You need to wake up so we can get you out of here. Come on, Kitten, I can’t carry you.” The Galran moved slightly in my arms, before his eyes finally opened.“Wance?” He mumbles sleepily, “Where are we? The last thing I remember is being in the hallway and seeing you. Then that Dorian did something after you ran off, I can’t really remember anything after that. I do think I hit him though.” I frown and hold onto Keith a little tighter.“I don’t know what happened, I had locked myself in the room. Pidge had come to my room, threatening to hack it if I didn’t come out. They then told me they had to lock you away, I am so sorry I wasn’t there for you.” I sigh and nuzzles Keith's head, his ears flicking back and forth around my face.“I don’t want to know where I am, do I?” I don’t say anything, for there were no words that could explain the betrayal of locking him up the way they did. Does my cousin know of this? I understand that she is not as forthcoming of having another Galran paladin after what happened, but this was a different situation and too many things are different know, but I refuse to let history repeat itself.“How about we go back to my room and calm down?” Keith shakes his head, tail moving to curl around my wrist,“No. I need to know what happened. I need to know why I was asleep on the floor wherever I am right now. They need to tell me if they ever expect me to fly in the red lion again. I need to know that they did not betray my trust.” I nod and press a hard kiss to Keith's forehead, before moving from under him and standing up.“Keep your eyes shut until we are in the elevator, it’s safe for you that way.” Keith nods and lets me pull him up to his feet, where he stumbles for a moment.Quiznak, Keith has definitely been in the cage for at least a varga, maybe more if he was this unstable on his feet. Something about this situation didn’t feel right though, the Dorian just didn’t seem right. They were low level telepaths when we knew them, but that was a long time ago, who’s to say they haven’t evolved int a more developed being in that time.“Keith, is it possible the Dorian did something to you?” I ask, trying to keep my voice level as we walk towards the elevator. But it was slow progress, Keith was still extremely slow on his feet, far too slow to have been asleep for a varga or so. “They used to be low level telepaths, but now, who knows what they can do after— what do the humans say, ten thousand years.” Keith pauses for a moment and turns his closed gaze to me.“Maybe, I just lost it after he touched my shoulder, I wasn’t expecting it, but then I just blacked out. Is that normal behaviour after coming into contact with a Dorian?” I shake my head and sigh.“No, it isn’t. But now we know something is up, we just have to figure out what.” When we finally reach the elevator, I get the door to shut as quickly as I could, wanting to deal with the Dorian, and I had an inkling about what was going on.*When the elevator finally reached the observation deck and the door slid open, we discovered the others all yelling at each other.“He has to go! His actions almost ruined the alliance!” Allura’s echoing voice was the first we heard.“There has to be some scientific explanation as to what happened with the Dorian. Keith wouldn’t just attack randomly.”“Uh, I dunno guys. Didn’t he attack us when we first met. I mean, I have to side with Allura here, look after the team and the alliance.” Hunk was siding with Allura, which meant this was all up to Shiro, since Coran will always side with Allura.“It wasn’t him!” I yell, unable to stop myself, causing everyone’s gaze to turn to me in the elevator.“Lance, I understand that you have feelings for this— for Keith. But he is a danger to us all, he attacked the Dorian for no reason.” Allura explains gently and I shake my head.“I don’t think that’s true. Did anyone think to pull up the camera feed that Pidge installed for situations like this?” The room fell silent and everyone stares at the ground.“I can pull it up now.” Mumbles Pidge, silently tapping away at their screen. As the image was pulled up on the hollo-screen, I stared at the time stamp placed in the lower corner showing that the incident happened almost three vargas ago. I choke and stare at Keith, who was trembling where he stood.“Press play.” Shiro orders and Pidge obeys as we all turn our watch to the screen, the audio turned up all the way.
“So, Red Paladin, it is odd to see a Galran on this side of the war. Are you a spy?” The Dorian on the video asks and Keith shakes his head, causing the Dorian to lean close.
From this angle, I can see Keith lean away from the Dorian.
“No, I am not a spy. As you noticed I am a paladin, the lion chose me herself. If I were truly on the other side of the war, she would not have let me in and not let me bond with her.” The Dorian nods and stares at Keith with eyes akin to attraction to a mate.
The sight of this happening again making me want to be sick. I try to move away from Keith, but his grip on me becomes lethal. I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding and move back to Keith, holding onto his hand tightly.
“Well then Young Paladin, you must be single. I do not see any mating marks bore across your skin. If you were mine, I would never let you out of my room.” A cough is heard on the video and the gaze of the two on screen look up, Keith's ear pressing against his head, tail curling up, and towards the sound.
“You wanted my help— and I didn’t know.” I whisper to Keith and he nods, grip tightening yet again. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know.”
“No, that is my mate. But he does not want to ruin any chances for the alliance and is not willing to start a fight with you over me, since I am not an object, now I please ask that you move away from me and either return to the conference will Princess Allura or return to your ship. I refuse to engage in this conversation any longer. Lance!” Keith calls and goes to move away from the Dorian, when his wrist is grabbed, a pink glow washing over him, before turning red.
“I will not let you go, nor assist you in your defeat of the Great Leader Zarkon. Vrepit sa!” He yells and pulls Keith back to him, obviously expecting to pull a docile Keith against him, is sudden grabbed and thrown across the hallway, Keith's once yellow eyes, turned orange and red.
Everyone gasps at the sight that is portrayed on the screen in front of us. It finally makes sense, ad my theory as mostly correct. I was not expecting the Dorian to be on the other side of the war, but that just shows that not just the Galra have been corrupted over the years, other species have been too.“We need to find out if it is just the single man, or if there are more of the Dorian’s people on the other side. We cannot create an alliance with a race that is against us,” I snap and Allura lowers her head in shame. “I hope you have learned your lesson, Cousin. Not all of us want to be under the scripture of your alliance.” I snap and storm off, dragging Keith with me.*Once back to my room, I shove Keith inside and lock the doors. I sigh, leaning my head against the door, trying to hold back the tears that were coming forth. I feel Keith come up behind me and wrap his arms around my waist.“Let it out, Lance. Do not bottle and hide your emotions from me.” He mumbles into my ear, and I just let go. A half scream rips from my throat as I sob, turning around into Keith's hold and sobbing into his chest.“She was wiling to kill you, Keith! Without a second thought, she still doesn’t trust you. And I fear she never will!” I yell, hands twisting in the fabric of Keith's shirt, soaking the front with my tears.“I know. I knew she would never believe that I am truly on your side of the war, but that was something I was willing to suffer if it meant I got to fight along side my mate. I want to see this war over, I don’t want any more blood on anyone’s hands. This needs to stop.” I nod and sober up, pulling away and wiping my nose with my hand.“Can we just cuddle for now? I’m not really in the mood to deal with my cousin again.” Keith smiles and nods.“Anything for my mate.”***