Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Keith thought he had a disease.

It was first noticed in the shower rooms after some agility training designed by Allura about a week ago. He noticed a small purple spot on his abdomen that weirdly resembled a birthmark. Keith had thought it was a strange looking bruise due to the training and didn’t think twice of it.

Undressing himself the next night to change into something more comfortable for sleep, the spot got just a little bigger. He poked it, but there was no pain.

Another patch of darkened skin appeared on his forearm next, and over time, more and more spots dotted themselves along his skin. The spots on his chest were the largest; growing up to the size of his hand when he compared it. He contorted his nude body in the mirror checking the back of his neck and his legs.

The very tips of his fingers also teased darkness. He went to Coran, who made him strip down to his underwear and inspected his skin with a sort of Altean magnifying glass. Keith’s face turned pink from embarrassment, but Coran remained unphased as if this was normal council work.

“You’re not experiencing any pain?” Coran flipped the magnifying glass closed.

“None.”

“And you haven’t eaten anything strange? No random flowers or weeds?”

Keith cringed. “No, I haven’t eaten any weeds.”

“Dress yourself,” Coran sighed and sat back into his chair to speak to Keith more seriously. “I believe this has to do with your Galran heritage.”

The pit in Keith’s stomach opened wide and an ugly feeling nestled in. In the most breathless and terrified voice Coran had ever heard, Keith uttered a pathetic, “w-what?”

Corans heart clenched. “Your mother…she never told you about any of this?”

Keith’s eyes darkened, frustrated at Coran’s inability for straightforwardness. “Coran,” he commanded. “What is happening to me?”

“I believe you are going through some sort of Galran juvenility. You’re half Galra so it makes sense that it would be a premature process. I’ve seen cases like this before, in King Alfors time; I am unsure how it will differ with Humans versus Alteans.” he said, and Keith was stunned. “It’s quick! Unlike you human puberties which take years, these take only about two weeks to completely manifest, Congratulations! You’re halfway done!”

“I can’t look Galran! I can’t lead Voltron while looking like this! Am I just gonna’ go full Galra and have to live with it? Is that it? Is that just…my life now? I can’t return to Earth, I could never face the team again–”

“Keith.” Coran cut in. “I know you’re scared. I don’t know what I would do in your situation. But, I do not believe it is permanent. Your Human cells and DNA are far more significant than your Galra, hence why it has taken so long for your new cells to begin developing. It should only last this remaining week. Think of it as a flare up, then you’ll go back to normal.”

Keith sighed, releasing the breath he was holding. “I don’t know what the others will think,” 

“All they need to know is that this is a completely normal transition in your life, and they’ll be mature enough to understand this process. But if you want to keep it a secret, I respect that. However, the process may be easier if they knew.”

“I’d rather not.” Keith responded quickly, “I don’t think I can face them like this.” 

“I understand.” Coran said, and Keith made his swift exit, making sure to take the quickest route back to his room and dive under the covers, the reality of the situation dawning on him at last.

He was turning Galra. He was turning Galra.

He immediately thought of Allura, who already was displeased with the information about his heritage. Even after making up, Keith found he was weary around her, throwing kind smiles whenever he could to ease her conscience. But now, if she had to stare upon his hideous, purple, Galra face…he doesn’t think she could stand it.

He thought of Lance next, oddly enough. How would he look when he saw Keith's Galra form? What would his face do? Keith thinks Lance would be disgusted by him, or make fun of his vulnerability. He could imagine Lance being taken aback by his looks and would run out of the room, leaving Keith to wallow in his purple misery.

He looked at his hand, his palms hinting at purple droplets where his skin was transforming. Thankfully, his spots were unnoticeable when he wore his usual clothes, and he tried his best to act like his entire world wasn’t crashing down on him when talking with others.

Coran promised to keep his mouth shut, only glancing Keith's direction every so often as if to check if he’d turned Galra yet. It was annoying, but he would rather that than Coran blabbing his mouth to everyone. 

They were all sat in their respective seats being ordered to deploy scouting drones at a newly refurbished Galra airbase. Pidge informed everyone that she’d rigged them all with cloaking, and while it was great for stealth, it made it hard for the paladins to avoid each other.

“Hey! Who hit me?” Lance shouted as he was knocked off course and rammed into the walls of a vent he had been traveling through. 

“Sorry. That was me.” Keith responded shyly, trying to maneuver around the invisible source, but knocked Lance into the side of the vent again denting the side. 

“Watch it!”

“I’m not watching anything, Lance!” Keith grew increasingly frustrated. The final time, Lance’s drone got taken out and his screen went static as the drone exploded. “Damnit.”

Allura’s brow twitched at their continuous bickering and she shouted to make them both silent. “I understand this is difficult,” she scolded, “but accidents happen. Keith, continue forward. Our position may have been compromised due to the explosion.”

“Kay.”

He exited the vent, the other paladins getting into position to scan the area for intel and bio-forces. Keith drove far up to begin his stand, when he noticed his thumbs had been turned into a deep purple–the color spreading down, down his wrists and to his elbows. He jumped, and his controller clattered to the floor along with his drone.

Everybody turned to him but his feet reacted faster than his brain. He kept his hands clutched to his chest to hide them and didn’t look back as his team called for him. 

“Damnit, damnit, damnit!” Keith growled while lifting his shirt in the bathroom. His color was spreading up to his shoulders and crept up his neck to just under his jaw. It would be significantly harder to hide the newfound fur that ticked the back of his ears. His shaking hands were more purple than white and his nails looked almost black at their base. 

He sank down into the corner and buried his face in his knees and forced himself to keep the painful lump in his throat down, throwing his jacket over his head to cover himself. He wanted to be wrapped up in blankets and never be seen until all of this was over.

His mind began to race about what everybody would think. He certainly ran out like some sort of child, botching the mission and causing a scene. Could he ever come out? Could he just hide here in the dark bathroom until another week passed?

Everybody else now knows for certain that something is wrong with him. He felt his cheeks burn at the thought of them all talking about him as soon as he left. He was shaking, his mind uselessly supplied, and he suddenly found it very hard to breathe.

Damn, get it together, he chastised, hands automatically going up to grip and rip at his hair in a desperate attempt to ground himself.

“--eith? Keith, where are you?” his ears echoed in his head.

“ Get out. ” he practically screamed–completely accidental, but he was trying to sound more firm than his wavering voice as he tried to silently cry. There was a bit of a silence after, and he thought that he was left alone again, but the pounding on the door startled him and he was ripped out of his thoughts, now panicking at being seen.

“What the hell, man. You ruined the mission!” Lance yelled from the other side of the door. “So just stop hiding because–”

Keith didn’t trust his voice again, and grabbed the closest bottle near him and threw it at the door. It shattered–oops–and the liquid inside scattered and stained where it hit.

“Keith?” Lance said, much softer now. “Are you okay?”

Keith didn’t answer. Lance tested the door handle and to his surprise it was unlocked. He held the door closed. “I’m coming in.”

Keith inhaled a sob, a last ditch attempt to keep Lance out. He was probably the very last person he would want to see right now. A small streak of light entered and hit Keith as Lance entered.

Lance’s entire demeanor changed. A sudden memory of his older sibling in a similar situation was supplied in his mind. Keith looked almost identical to her. All of his anger dissipated immediately, and he stepped over the glass and crouched down near Keith and nicely lifted the jacket off and discarded it to the side.

“Keith,” Lance said softly. “Let go.” his hands placed themselves on top of Keith’s. When Keith didn’t respond, Lance dug his fingers into Keith’s fists to keep him from hurting himself any longer. Painful memories of his sister brutally ripping out her hair resurfaced. Just like her…Keith looked so…small.

Keith inhaled another broken breath and Lance recognized his difficulty finding air. “Can you look up?” 

Keith responded by a violent shake of his head. “Okay. You don’t have too.”

Keith remained a bit startled at this new Lance. This Lance wasn’t bullying him or getting angry at him for messing everything up. This Lance was quiet and rubbing Keith's back in big circles as Keith cried shamelessly. This Lance definitely saw his Galran skin but made no effort to comment on it. To keep Keith from clawing at his elbows Lance opted to hold his hand and wait for Keiths panic attack to subside.

When Keith was nothing more than a bundle of whimpers Lance began to speak that same honey-soft voice that was driving Keith crazy.

“Can you look up now?” and Keith did.

He looked embarrassed, Lance thought. Keith’s eyes were cast away and his cheeks were growing increasingly red. His head knocked the back wall and he breathed in fresh air.

“When were you gonna tell us?” Lance said. Keith closed his eyes.

“I wasn’t.” he rasped.

“You should’ve. Could’ve avoided all this.” Lance laughed a breathy laugh and Keith grimaced and silence enveloped them. Lance found himself staring at Keith’s new markings that were starting to touch his face. 

“I'm hideous.” Keith finally said.

Lance brushed his shoulder playfully. “It’s not that bad. Besides, it's only temporary, right?”

Keith tried to respond with a smile but it looked pretty pitiful. 

“They’re worried about you,” Lance said again, moving to stand. Keith’s jacket was soaked in the water across the floor and dripped onto the tile as he held it up. Lance put it on a rack rather haphazardly and helped Keith stand. He sort of rolled his shoulders forward and looked at Lance through his bangs like a wounded puppy. His stomach did a somersault. 

Keith tried to calm himself down but it was very clear he had been crying by the time they reached the control center where they were all waiting for him. His bare arms were almost completely purple and he scratched at them self consciously. Allura couldn’t hide the way she gasped which really only made Keith feel worse, but Lance put a supportive hand on Keith's shoulder.

“So–”

“Coran wasn’t lying! You’re really turning Galra!” Pidge announced, jumping up from her seat. Keith winced.

“I’m not… turning Galra . It will pass.” Keith’s skin picking got a little worse. “That’s what Coran said.”

The man piped up. “Correct! I did an evaluation for number 4 and this time next week, he will be all back to normal!”

“Oh, cool. So we’re just gonna have Galra-Keith hang around for a few days. That's cool. Cool.” Hunk said, joining Pidge at her side. “I’m wondering if you–like–skin is changing color or if you’re making new cells.”

“I was wondering that too! Maybe your body is going through some sort of genetic transformation!” she beamed, clearly not too bothered that they would be around a Galran. However…

“Allura. Can you please say something?” Keith asked very quietly, the scratching starting up again. “Please?” he said even smaller.

Allura stood with her arms crossed taking in all of Keith. Taking in all of this Galra. “I understand this is not in your control.” the malice in her voice present. “I’m still uncomfortable.” she said brutely, sticking her nose in the air and causing Keith to shrink back even further.

Lance put his hands on Keiths arms to stop the scratching.

The tension in the room rose, and Keith squeaked out a pretty miserable little “ok” that had the entire room grow awkward. Keith hid in his room after that. Hunk came by later with a plate of dinner he and Coran prepared, which Keith took, but it remained untouched in the remaining night. 

Two days later, Keith walked into the mess hall with his remaining skin completely transformed but he tried his best to hide most of it. His sclera was now tinted yellow and his pupils were slits. His vision was also impaired a bit because Keith wasn’t used to seeing anything other than his normal vision, and he often found himself bumping into counters or doorways as he tried to navigate the castle. Lance noticed his pitiful state and acted sort-of like a seeing-eye dog, which left Keith absolutely humiliated, but bumping into a pile of dishes and causing a giant mess while Keith was trying to leave the kitchen only reminded him that having another set of eyes could be good.

By day four he got used to it and could see clearly the Galran ears and tail that formed. He burned , wishing that he had something to cover up such a disaster of Galran anatomy. He destroyed his closet looking for some sort of hat or hood he could use to cover this. He thought about anywhere else he may get a jacket but unfortunately he guessed nobody else had one and Altean fashion wasn't quite akin to hoodies. Pidge probably has one, he thought, but it would never fit him right. And even more unfortunately, these parts were emotive, pinning down flat against his head when he snuck several doors down to Lance’s room and tentatively knocked on the door. He heard some shuffling–most likely Lance getting out of bed–and the door slid open.

“Keith? How early is it?”

“Um–it’s actually almost breakfast.” Keith said quickly and let himself inside, to Lance's disapproval. “Oh yeah, come right on in!”

Keith pried his hands off his head. “Can I borrow your jacket,” he said.

Lance’s jaw dropped at the sight, clearly forgetting that that was part of Galranity. Then, his face lit up with absolute glee and he reached out to touch them. “Aww! Pequeño gatito esponjoso!” 

“Lance–get off!” Keith cried, putting his hand on Lance's face to push him away.

“Sooo cute, oh my god. I’m dead. I’ve died.” 

“Lance, please.” 

He did. He went to his bed where his jacket had been haphazardly cast aside and chucked the jacket into Keith’s arms. “Not sure why you’d want to hide that, hermano.” Lance said but Keith focused on getting the jacket on.

He flicked the hood up. “It's embarrassing.”

Lance shrugged. “It’s cute.”

Chapter Text

The castle was heading for the isolated planet of Scrola. These people had recently suffered an attack from the Empire and were looking for help to get back on their feet, which Voltron leapt at the opportunity to make allies with another planet, especially one so far away from other civilizations.

The planet itself was warm. Very warm, considering it and a small star were sharing atmospheres. The Scrolians had adapted well to the heat, evolution meant that their skin had become immune to the harsh UV rays the star emitted.

Needless to say, it was hot . 

The Scrolian town stretched on for miles, and according to their leader who had spoken with Allura prior to their arrival, the Galra destroyed several homes and their towns capital building, raided their crops and destroyed their farms. And more horrifyingly, they took prisoners.

The leader told Allura about how fearful his people had become, and that led her to a very awkward conversation with Keith a few hours after the transcript.

“I feel it is wise to…keep your appearance hidden whilst we are visiting this planet. The people of Scrola are afraid of the Galra.” she told Keith privately one afternoon. The ears on Keiths head lowered down slightly. “Please wear your armor while we deliver the supplies. I don’t want to cause a panic.” 

And so that’s how Keith ended up on the planet Scrolia completely covered up head to toe. Keith activated the helmet's tinted visor (Allura’s request) which wasn’t entirely too bad. It kept the brightness of the star at a minimum.

When they arrived on the planet, the little leader ran up to the castle to greet the princess and the paladins, but before she could get a word out, the leader rushed to hand her several containers of a special type of heat resistant balm. “Our planet is too hot for your species. It is why the Galra left in a hurry. Please dawn this cream to protect your soldiers.” he said. Allura passed it back to Lance.

After a few minutes, the group was covered head to toe in this cream which soaked into their skin niceley. Save for Keith, who had already begun unloading cargo from the ship. The leader approached him at one point asking if the suit was enough protection from the star. Keith nodded.

A small white lie, Keith bit his tongue. While Paladin suits are resistant to almost everything, much more than a star, this certain stars' UV rays had been altered by the oxygen of this planet, and because it was so close, the rays were slowly heating up the suit. 

Keith was a bit warm, but it felt like he was working on the desert again. 

The paladins soon joined him. Hunk was in his casual clothes, Pidge in a tank top and shorts, and Lance was walking around shirtless. He shot Keith a worried look but Keith pretended not to see it.

The delivery was going smoothly, Hunk was in charge of carrying the crates to the delivery vehicles so that some Scrolian workers could assembly line them to town. Coran and some farmers were conversing about replanting food sources, and Allura was speaking with the leader.

Keith didn’t notice he was panting breaths out of his mouth until several minutes after. He was hoisting up a crate of goods from the storage compartment on the side of the castle when the heat soared through his body. He felt hot and cold at the same time. He touched his arm with his hand and realised how hot it felt. That was weird.

His entire body felt heavy and slow, but he continued on. Lance jogged up to where Keith was unloading to bring another crate to Hunk. His body was absolutely covered in sweat and he had a couple small imperfections on his skin from wielding heavy boxes in bare skin, but he still jogged up with a smile like delivering cargo was christmas day.

Keith dropped the box. Lance’s smile dropped. Well that was embarrassing.

He brought his hand up to his head and stumbled back a step or two. “Hey man, you good?” Lance asked but Keith didn’t really hear it. Only then he realized his skin felt like it was burning. A dull ache that was really bothersome.

He saw Lance's face right next to his trying to look into the visor, but Keith's legs collapsed and he lost consciousness as Lance tried his best to hold him up despite the armor sizzling against his skin as the intense direct heat reacted with the cream

“Hey!” Lance yelled at Pidge who was nearby. “Help!” he cried and strained his muscles trying to keep Keith upright.

Pidge saw what was happening and ran over. “What’s going on?” she asked. One touch of the armor told her enough. “Come on, let’s get him inside!” Lance wrapped Keith’s arm around his neck and Pidge supported his body by Keith’s waist. They brought him inside via the storage room and out into a foyer to place him down on the cold castle floor.

“He just fainted!” Lance exclaimed when they got him down. Pidge reached up to release the airtight seal of the helmet and pull it off. Keith was covered in a layer of sweat and his hair stuck to his forehead. Droplets of sweat ran down his face. Lance began to take off the chestplate, carefully maneuvering Keith’s body and setting his hand under Keith’s head so as to not accidentally drop his head hard on the floor.

“We have to cool him off immediately.” Pidge commanded, and raced back into the storage room to find something. She returned moments later with water and poured it on Keith. He didn’t move.

“I’ll run to the kitchen and get ice!” Lance told her, and was immediately up and gone before Pidge went back to get more water. 

“Come on, come on, wake up.” Pidge mumbled to Keith and poured the water on his forehead, carful not to get any in his mouth for now. Assembly line disassembled, Hunk went looking for the paladins. 

He found the storage door open and walked inside, calling out for Keith and Lance, but saw Pidge on her knees next to Keiths body instead. “Woah!” he explained. “What happened?”

Pidge looked up al Hunk. “Keith fainted. He’s way too hot. I’m trying to cool him down, Lance went to the kitchen for ice.” Pidge told him. Hunks eyes widened, and he ripped open the top of a crate and forge for what he knew was in there: Cotton.

Cotton-equivalent sheets, more like. In his head he thanked himself for helping Coran pack all these crates a few days ago and knew what the contents were. He ripped off a chunk of the sheets and ran to Pidge. “Give me the water,” he said. Pidge listened.

He folded up the torn fabric and drenched it in the cold bottled water and placed it on Keith’s neck. “Hold it there. I’ll get more water.” he said sternly. As he was ripping up more sheets, Lance returned with a big bag of ice. “I’m here!”

He dropped the bag down next to Keith and Hunk wrapped a handful of ice cubes in the fabric, making a makeshift ice pack to place on Keiths forehead. 

When they realised that there was virtually nothing they could do until Coran could activate the cryo-pods, (Hunk ran back outside to get him) Pidge and Lance kept the ice against his body and waited. “How did this happen?” Lance sighed.

“He overheated from the amour, Lance.” Pidge said.

“No, I mean yes, that happened, but I meant why was he wearing it?” Lance brought a hand up to his own head trying to think. “We all were told how hot this planet was. Why would he..”

“Isn’t it obvious? He looks Galran. He probably didn’t want to freak out the Scrolians.” Pidge said.

“But he’s a paladin! Of Voltron! He saves lives, we all do! What makes him so different? Just because he’s Galra he’s suddenly a liability to the team? He’s still the same fighter he was before…uh, all this happened.” he gestured to Keith's body. Pidge just shrugged. “Maybe it was for his own safety.”

“Coran said he should be turning back soon.” Lance commented. Curious, he picked up Keith's degloved hand to inspect it. No change yet.

Coran and Allura entered soon with Hunk behind to gawk at the scene. “Great Jupiter Jim!” Coran exclaimed. “Let’s get him to a cyropod!” he said, running up to Pidge and Lance who had already begun moving Keith's body. Hunk took Keith's right arm and Lance took his left, and they carried him to a pod. 

Keith was shut in frantically.

Lance raised his fist to knock on Keiths bedroom door, but hesitated. Would he be sleeping? No. Lance didn’t feel tired after his time in the cryopod. He was up for many, many hours after. It was like his entire body was set back to one hundred and he could run for hours.

Lance knocked. Three times. Waited a few seconds, and walked away. “I guess he was asleep.”

The door slid open and Lance whipped his head around. “Oh! Hey.” Lance said, surprised. Keith cocked a brow. “I uh, wasn’t sure if you were awake or not.”

“I can’t fall asleep. That pod messed up my sleep schedule.” Keith said a little maliciously, but Lance assumed he was irritated that it was late and he didn’t feel tired. Keith's ears pressed down flat against his head as he glowered at Lance. “What do you want?” 

Lance laughed a little nervously. “I was just…” he twiddled his thumbs, a nervous habit that Keith picked up over their time together. “Checking if you were okay. That’s it.” he smiled sheepishly.

Keith's yellow eyes glared his way and Lance felt a bit uncomfortable. 

“Are–are you okay?” Lance asked. Keith’s eyes darted to the floor. “Keith,”

“I’m fine! I just–I'm,” he scoffed. “I’m just frustrated.” he confessed. His mean eyes turned soft and he looked to his hands. “I hate this.”

Lance took a few steps towards Keith. “I hate looking like this, I hate that–that I threw everything off on that stupid planet.”

“It’s fine. When we got you in the pod we all went back outside to finish the offloading.” Lance shoved his fists in his pocket. “We were just worried about you when we took you out of the pod and you, well you sort of disappeared on us after Coran checked your temperature.”

Keith cringed. “Sorry. I just…there's a lot going on.”

“I get it. But you know we’re here for you.” Lance said, and Keith suddenly realised he was significantly closer when he looked up. Close enough for Lance to pull Keith into a hug. Startled, Keith kind of froze for a second, but hugged him back.

“Thanks. You’re a good friend.” Keith said quietly. 

Lance smiled.