Shiro let out a long sigh of relief, sinking down into the couch. "In his lion?"

Pidge nodded. "Yes. That's why Red wasn't acting up. But Keith's staying with his lion until he feels safer. We don't know where the Galran is."

The black paladin hummed and nodded. "Well, we haven't found any sign of the Galran. I think it must have somehow escaped."

"It must have," Allura agreed, nodding. "I'm glad Keith is alright."

Hunk sat up. "I'll bring him some food goo once it's time for dinner. Is-is Lance still with him? I could bring both of them some food goo."

"That sounds good, Hunk," Shiro nodded to the yellow paladin, patting his shoulder. "I'll go for another circle around the castle-ship, making sure there's no Galran."

Pidge nodded. "Okay. I'll go check on the lions. There's a dent in Red that I want to fix before it gets worse. If it does, it could ruin the clocking device I installed."

"Alright." Shiro stood, ruffling Pidge's hair. She pouted, trying to fix her hair. "We're counting on you, Pidge," he teased, smiling at her. She stuck her tongue out at him, crossing her arms.

"We're counting on you, leader."

~

Keith bit his lip, and immediately regret it. "Ouch," he gasped, brushing his fingertips over his lip.

"What?" Lance sat up, eyes widening. "What happened? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just..." Keith shook his head. "I forgot I have fangs now."

Lance furrowed his brows, then nodded. "Oh... I didn't realize you had fangs... Can I see!?" The blue paladin scooted closer, eyes wide in curiosity and excitement.

The red paladin was confused. Lance wanted to see his fangs? Slowly, almost hesitantly, Keith opened his mouth wide enough and tilted his head back slightly for his fellow paladin to see.

"Whoa!" Lance looked upon the fangs with amazement. "They're not much longer than regular everyday canines at home, but they're super sharp-looking!" The blue paladin reached forward, brushing the pad of his thumb over Keith's fang.

Keith jerked back, snapping his mouth shut. "Disgusting! Don't touch my teeth! I don't know what's on your fingers!"

Lance laughed, rocking back. "Nothing! I'm all clean! I swear it!"

"I still don't want to taste you!" He snapped, sneering at Lance as he only continued to laugh.

"I see you two are getting along," Pidge commented as she stepped in. Keith rolled his eyes- well, he thought he did. The other two couldn't tell. Lance just snickered, leaning against the wall of the lion. "Anyway, I told everyone you're in here and they all think the 'Galran escaped.' So you're safe until you decide you want to reveal yourself." Keith hummed and nodded, looking down at his feet.

"What..." Keith paused, furrowing his brows as he tried figuring out how to word his question. "Do you think any of the others will accept me as you two have?"

Pidge looked to the side in thought, then sat beside him. "For one; correction. It's three that have accepted you. Lance, me, and Red. That's three." Keith smiled slightly. "And two; they all care about you. You're our teammate. You're apart of our family. You're the right arm of Voltron. The red paladin. We all trust you. That doesn't change with what you look like."

Lance scooted closer again. "Yeah. You're not our enemy. You might look like them, but you're clearly not. You've fought with us by our sides and you've always been for whatever it takes to defeat the real Galra." Lance reached forward, but wouldn't touch Keith in front of Pidge. "They'll accept you. I know they will. You just need your time to get yourself together. Then show them like you showed Pidge. That was super brave."

Pidge nodded in agreement(which she thought was something she'd never do with Lance), and smiled at Keith. "Exactly. You don't have to come right out and say it like when I told everyone I'm a girl. Just take your time."

Keith looked up at both of them. "Thank you... All three of you." Red rumbled softly in affection. "I don't know what I'd do without you." The red paladin looked over at Lance, locking eyes with him. Lance grinned, tilting his head slightly.

"You'd do nothing," Pidge snorted and stood. "You'd be stuck on Earth as an outcast."

Keith scowled. "Thanks, Pidge. You're a huge help."

She smirked, cocking her head. "You're so very welcome. Now, I'm gonna go check on the other lions like I told Shiro I was going to do."

~

Keith sighed, wandering around Red's hangar. The area was spacious, but rather bland. Keith normally likes areas like this, but it currently made him feel closed in and worried him even more.

Lance had left a long while ago to go on patrol. Keith liked being alone, but he had gotten used to Lance being by his side. Now he felt strange without Lance nearby.

"Keith! Shiro and I wanted to check up on you and bring you some food!"

The Red paladin gasped, whipping around out of surprise to face Hunk and Shiro. The other two paladins froze momentarily before Shiro stepped forward, eyes narrowed and arm glowing.

"Wait, wait," Keith shouted, stumbling back with his hands up to guard himself. "Please wait!"

Shiro and Hunk blinked, exchanging a quick, confused look. "Keith?" Shiro slowly asked, his arm dimming.

Said paladin gulped and nodded. "Y-yeah..."

"What the quiznak happened!?" Hunk yelped, nearly dropping the plate he held. "Did-did the Galra get to you? Is this why you were sick? Were you the Galran that the-the mice saw!?"

Shiro held up his hand to calm down Hunk, then stepped closer to Keith. "Keith? What is this?"

Keith swallowed thickly, looking down at his hands. "I-I don't know... I think... I think it has to do with why I was sick... This is why Lance was hiding me."

"So Pidge knows?" Shiro slowly relaxed. Keith nodded.

"She found out earlier when you told her to check on Red. Shiro, I swear-" Keith cut himself off as the black paladin made his way closer. Keith's ears involuntarily flattened as he now had to look up at Shiro. "I-I didn't want-"

Shiro sighed, then wrapped his flesh arm around the red paladin. "Keith... It's alright... You clearly didn't mean for this to happen. You had no choice. I saw the pain you were in the other day. Keith, don't think we'd reject you. You're our dear friend, fellow paladin, and apart of our family."

Keith heard more people enter the room, but he didn't look up from the embrace. "Thank you, Shiro."

"Keith! You look like Keith!"

"He is Keith, you moron!"

"Shut up, Pudge!" Keith heard some scuffling. "Look!"

"Oh!"

"He's not purple!"

"What!?" Keith gasped, jerking away from Shiro to look down at his hands. Normal... I'm normal... What?

"This must have been triggered by fear," Allura stated as she stepped closer, smiling fondly down at Keith. "You're no longer scared, so your stronger form is no longer needed. It must be some defense mechanism."

Keith furrowed his brows. "But... I'm human?"

"Half-human!" Coran stepped up, twisting his mustache. "I studied the data collected by the cryo-chamber, and it appears you're half-human, half-Galran. Though I can't seem to make out any time period around your years ago when a Galran would have made it to your Earth, let alone meet a human woman/man! So I have no clue who your other parent is."

"My mom..." Keith looked down. "I'm... Half-Galran? And you can't figure out when a Galran could have come to earth before I was born?"

"Maybe a scout," Pidge suggested, stepping closer, beside Shiro. "Maybe someone was sent to scout out planets and they ended up on Earth."

Coran nodded. "Seems highly plausible!" He smirked, trying on a word he often heard Pidge and Shiro use. "I've noticed the Galra don't keep track if their scouting missions!"

Allura nodded, moving closer to Keith. "You nodded longer have anything to fear. You had nothing to fear with us. We all care for you, Keith, even if you are half-galran. Even with this new finding, you're still Keith, and you're still the paladin of the red lion."

Red hummed, lowering his head to nudge Keith. "Thank you... Everyone."

"No problem!" Hunk tossed a heavy arm around Keith's shoulder, causing the smaller man to grunt. "Now, I hope you like the food goo. Took me forever to alter the flavor."

"You what!? That food goo is a recipe passed down from generation to generation!"