Chapter Text
Keith was Galran.
Technically, half-Galran, Pidge amended in her mind as Keith told them such following some test he’d participated in at the Blade of Marmora base, given that only his mom seemed to be Galran and his dad had definitely been human.
It didn’t matter.
He was a Galran.
And Allura was livid.
“How dare you?” she snarled, nostrils flaring and hands clenched in trembling fists at her side and looking one second away from punching Keith, who looked like he’d come out on the losing end of a fight and one step away from falling over. “How dare you deceive us. How dare you deceive me.”
The betrayal in Allura’s voice was as sharp as a knife and cut just as deep.
“I didn’t,” Keith said, hands spread at his sides — no threat? Balance? Both? — voice trembling with exhaustion and, if Pidge wasn’t mistaken, the barest quiver of fear that she understood and hated that she did. “I swear I didn’t know—”
“You liar,” Allura snarled, tears sparking in the corners of her eyes. “All Galrans are the same. Deceitful and cruel and—”
“N-no,” Keith shook his head. “I’m not—”
“You are not welcome here, Galran,” Allura spat the word like a curse and Keith flinched back and Pidge did too.
Was this…
Was this really Allura?
The same person who had told Pidge that it didn’t matter what she was because Green had chosen her?
Hadn’t Red chosen Keith?
How…
How were they any different?
And, and if they were…
Then that meant…
That meant she was different.
She didn’t belong either.
Her stomach rolled at the thought.
She’d been accepted so kindly, so easily, in a way that still surprised her how much, and Allura’s words to her at the breakfast table had been the catalyst for helping her to accept herself and really start to process the who versus the what she was.
But now...
“That is enough,” Shiro stepped up next to Keith and put a hand on Keith’s shoulder, as much for comfort as it was to likely prevent Keith from tipping over, “Princess, you know—”
“I know that there is a Galran here and he is not welcome,” Allura cut him off. “Not in my castle, not in my father’s Lion—”
“Allura,” Coran put a hand to mirror Shiro’s on Allura’s shoulder, “let’s all calm d—”
“No!” she shrugged Coran’s hand off. “He is a Galran, Coran! They are betrayers! Galrans,” her voice hitched, “killed my father!”
The hall rang with silence broken only by Allura’s sharp, panting breaths of rage and grief and her own fear on full display.
Pidge’s heart went out to her.
What she was saying though…
It wasn’t right.
“But Keith didn’t,” Pidge said quietly but no less firmly as she stared at Keith and his mirrored situation with an entirely different reaction to her own.
They both weren’t what they thought. They both weren’t fully human.
That wasn’t their faults.
And Allura yelling at Keith who, who had to be so scared to discover he was not only part alien but the most hated race in the universe...
Allura tossed her head, hair swaying behind her and grief etched into her face as tears sparked in flashing jeweled eyes while Keith was looking at her with something she couldn’t quite place.
Surprise?
No.
Gratefulness.
As though no one, save Shiro, had ever spoken up on his behalf.
It just made Pidge want to do so even more.
This wasn’t right.
“He is a Galr—”
“And I’m an android,” Pidge snapped.
Her eyes widened.
She…
She had never yet said it aloud.
“I’m an android,” she repeated softer. “And you accepted me.”
Without question.
“That is dif—”
“How?” Pidge interrupted, feeling anger starting to push to the surface at how fucking obstinate Allura was being and how much it was hurting not just Keith but hurting her as the worldview she’d rebuilt of herself tried to crack down the middle. “How is it different? I didn’t know what I was, Allura. Keith didn’t fucking know either.”
“He did,” Allura insisted, still blinded by grief and refusing to listen to reason and even knowing that Pidge could feel the crack widening. “He is a danger to all of—”
“Enough,” Coran’s voice was like ice. “Princess, that is enough.”
“Cor—”
“Enough,” and Pidge swore the temperature dropped in the receiving hallway they were gathered in and Lance gave a fullbody shiver where he was paced between the two groups and looking absolutely torn, but…
But he was angled slightly so his back was towards Keith and Shiro as though he was preparing to defend them if Allura advanced further and Hunk, while hiding behind Lance, was doing the same.
It was six against one and Allura seemed to realize such as well as she fell silent although her jaw remained clenched and fisted hands trembled at her sides.
“Number Five,” Coran said, voice light again, “please escort Number Four to the infirmary and await my arrival. Numbers Two and Three, please report to the kitchen to brew up a nice batch of tea. Number One, Princess, remain here.”
Pidge wasn’t sure she’d ever actually heard Coran give an order, always deferring to Allura and Shiro, but everyone snapped to follow them, even if Shiro had to give Keith a gentle nudge in Pidge’s direction.
“I can walk myself,” Keith said, voice low, as they turned the corner away from the rest of the group before Pidge could even offer to be a crutch, his shoulders curled and posture defensive.
He didn’t say anything else although his steps were far slower than normal.
Pidge kept pace.
“You know,” she said, surprising herself as she hated small talk, but she needed something to break this silence, “I’m getting deja vu.”
Keith glanced over to her.
“Not even a week ago you were walking me to the infirmary,” she said, “and making sure I didn’t fall flat on my face.”
Keith let out a soft sounding snort that was almost a sob.
Pidge reached out a hand and gently bumped it against Keith’s, his skin bruised and knuckles raw, and God, what had he been through? And then to come back to that sort of reception?
Keith didn’t quite hold her hand but his fingers caught around the tips of hers, as though afraid of touching her further, and she curled hers around them.
They made it to the infirmary without further conversation and Pidge gave Keith’s fingers one tiny squeeze before releasing his hand and crossing the room to where the cooler of water pouches were located as Keith painfully pulled himself up onto the exam table, hunching over.
His hands were still trembling as he took the water pouch from her with a soft, “thanks.” He swallowed. “And, um, thanks for… for what you did. Back there.”
“Allura was out of line,” Pidge scowled. “She had no right to say that to you. It’s not like you knew.”
Keith looked down at the water pouch squeezed between his hands.
Pidge’s eyes widened.
“You knew?” she whispered.
Keith gave the barest shake of his head. “I…” he swallowed. “I suspected. Do, do you remember that mission with the Druid? And the quintessence containers? Some of it splashed on me and my skin,” he winced, “it turned purple. And, and when I fought Zarkon he told me I fought like a Galran and then my mom’s knife looked like Ulaz’s, but… but I’d hoped… I didn’t actually think…”
“You didn’t actually know,” Pidge said, her own chest untightening at that conclusion. “You had a hypothesis based on information you learned in the last few weeks and you were confirming the data. That doesn’t mean you lied at all or kept something from us.”
“Allura thinks I did,” Keith whispered.
“And she’s wrong. Coran and Shiro will set her straight,” Pidge nodded firmly.
They would.
Allura was reasonable and, as she’d proven earlier, more insightful and logic based than Pidge had given her credit for. She just needed some time to process, to realize that not all Galrans — like the Blade of Marmora and now Keith — were not bad and they didn’t represent the Galra Empire.
In the meantime though, there was no need for Keith to have to face that senseless hate and cruel words when he was clearly hurt from more than just the trial he’d had to face.
“I know I’m not really the best at this, but…” Pidge gave his shoulder a tiny nudge, “you want to talk about it?”
Keith gave a small shrug. “I… I don’t know. I just…”
“Wish things could go back to the way they were?” Pidge filled in and she sent a wry smile at him as he looked up. “Believe me, I get it. I’ve spent the last few days questioning everything I’ve ever done and everything I thought I was and trying to come to terms with the fact that I’m not human. But what I learned is that I am a human because human doesn't mean our bodies; it means our humanity. So whether I’m an android or you’re part Galran… we’re still human, Keith. And we’re still the same people we were before all this shit hit the fan.”
Keith looked away. “It’s not that easy.”
“Why not?” Pidge cocked her head. “I’m still the same, right? You, you still,” she felt her cheeks darken, “care about me and don’t want me to get hurt even if it doesn’t actually really hurt me. I feel the same about you, no matter what you are, because it’s who you are that matters.”
“I thought you said you weren’t good at this,” Keith mumbled, pressing a hand to his eyes and voice thick.
“Apparently I’ve improved.”
And wasn’t that funny? That she’d never considered herself a people person but in discovering she was in fact a machine it had made her feel even more human and tap into those parts of herself.
Fascinating.
“Look,” her voice softened, “I’m going to tell you the same thing someone in her right mind once told me. The Red Lion picked you to be her Paladin. The Red Lion, who I don’t need to remind you, is clearly the pickiest, finickiest, most egotistical—”
“Hey,” Keith protested half-heartedly although a ghost of a smile was on his face.
“—stubborn, and proud Lion of the bunch, who apparently,” and that was a huge surprise but it also made a lot of sense to Allura’s reaction, “was once King Alfor’s Lion picked you, Keith, to pilot her and to help end this war. And that should tell anyone and everyone all they need to know about your heart.”
Keith shuddered out a raw sounding breath.
“Thanks, Pidge,” he whispered. “I… that, that means a lot.”
She gave his shoulder another nudge, softer than she normally would given the last one had made Keith wince.
And together in companionable silence they waited for Coran.
xxx
The next couple days were…
Different.
Different was a good word.
It wasn’t bad, it wasn’t good, it was just different.
And different Pidge could work with.
Allura had apologized to Keith for her outburst that night at dinner and while her manner had been reserved and a touch frosty it had been honest. She’d apologized to Pidge too and said, loud enough for Keith to hear, that Pidge had been correct; the Lions chose their Paladins and she trusted their judgment.
Therefore, she trusted Keith.
It was still a bit tense on the bridge but they seemed to be doing all right.
Pidge had found that she really enjoyed Keith’s company and he seemed a strange mix of happy and apprehensive that she wanted to include him, and they’d spent evenings — Galrans apparently didn’t sleep as much either — talking about things in hindsight that didn’t make a lot of sense that they could attribute to their heritages.
It was nice, having someone to talk to about things like that and Keith seemed to enjoy it too, opening up a little bit more each night.
The team outside of Allura seemed to have taken Keith’s newfound heritage relatively in stride — although Pidge had told Hunk to knock it off with the Galra jokes as Keith had told her in their quiet nights he didn’t like them, but she did find the ones about her android body humorous and he could keep on with those — and they were settling into a comfortable rhythm once more of training in both combat and the Lions and forming Voltron and she’d felt Green’s gentle nuzzle and pride against her mind, relief too that her Paladin had accepted herself as much as Green did.
Voltron was one mind and one body and Pidge had never felt more like she belonged.
She’d never felt more human.
She could feel Lance’s constant hum of excitement over every little thing, of his zest for life and his love of the team and how much he cared about everyone and wanted to help.
She could read Hunk’s analysis of the situation and sometimes sense his worries as his anxiety built (until Lance’s or even Shiro’s presence would smooth it over) and, she winced, feedback over too sharp of turns and jostles and her own stomach lurched more than it should.
She could sense Shiro’s quiet pride and his calm presence making sure everyone was doing all right and that quiet conviction that made her follow his lead without question.
And she could feel Keith’s passion even if it was hidden at times behind wariness, but his love for speed and his desire to belong.
And she knew they could feel her and every emotion and feeling she projected through their link.
Because like them she was a Paladin.
And humanity was their greatest strength.
It was her greatest strength.
And no matter what the future held for her, no matter what her parents might say when she finally was able to confront them…
She was proud to be Katie Holt.
She was proud of who she was.
And her future had never looked brighter.