"Allura? You wanted to see me."

The woman hesitated before she peered up to find Keith by the door unsure whether to proceed further. Allura motioned him towards her and froze as he stopped before her, his blue-grey eyes void of emotion. The princess took a quick glance to Coran who was standing at attention nodding to her in reassurance.

"Keith." Allura started turning her attention back to the Paladin letting herself relax slightly. "I just need you to know that this will take some time for us to accept. I do not wish for this to affect our relationship but I fear it might. I apologise for my harsh words but I cannot say that I truly didn't mean them."

"So it'd be best if I avoid you?" Keith muttered.

"It would be best if we remained elusive towards one another." Allura pursed her lips before continuing. "I will never forgive the Galra for they have done."

"And I don't expect you to," Keith shook his head before sweeping his hand out. "But I'm not who you think I am."

"Galra's are all the same, you may not all be fighting on the same side but you all fight for one thing. Power."

"Right..." Keith clenched his fist. "And I've got some other ulterior motive for trying to save the universe. Come on Allura, you must be joking."

"I'm sorry Keith but I am not." The princess turned back to the controls. "You may still pilot the red lion but do not expect everything to return to normal."

If Allura was expecting Keith to say anything else she was sorely mistaken, the red paladin narrowed his eyes at her in irritation before storming out the room.

***

Keith stood before his lion palm outstretched, the cold metal sending a shiver down the paladins back. Staring into the dulled eyes of the metal beast Keith let out a sigh and lowered his head. Galra. The Empire who had seized the universe for ten thousand years was running through his very being. Yet. Keith lifted his head. The Red Lion of Voltron chose him. A man who didn't even know who he was anymore. Before the trial, he had always been uncertain of who he was, who he was meant to be. As the Marmora trial ended he knew indefinitely, he was the Red Paladin, legendary defender of the universe. But then the blade he had since he was child glowed and its secrets unlocked causing him to unravel in uncertainty all over again. His mother was Galra part of the Blade of Marmora. But who was she? Was she a soldier? A princess? Keith smirked shaking his head in amusement, Hunk and Pidge sure did have some crazy theories. The mental purr the lion produced caused Keith to shudder, who was he? Truly? He was an orphan, a garrison drop out, a temperamental loner. The added cause of being half Galra only served to widen the gap between himself and the paladins. If Allura was doubting him the others would soon follow, after everything the princess had told them, Keith, himself was beginning to question why he was here. What if he did have an ulterior motive?

Galra's are all the same, you may not all be fighting on the same side but you all fight for one thing. Power.

It never occurred to Keith that perhaps when he was in a leading position he enjoyed the power that came with it. Face to face with Zarkon, the power he felt was immense and he bathed in it, fighting the biggest threat to the universe made him feel unstoppable, most like he was sure as Zarkon felt as he brought planet after planet down to their knees. Keith shook his head harshly, no, he was not like Zarkon, he had restraint, he was a paladin. But Zarkon had been a paladin, of the black lion no less.

Keith was mentally slapped back into reality as sirens began to sound and Allura's voice flittered across the ship.

"Paladins to your lions. We have company."

  ***  

"What are we facing?" Hunk asked clutching the handles of his lion tightly, watching the large Galra ship with intense suspicion. "Nothing's happening."

"I'm not sure." Shiro narrowed his brow.

"Well, this is fun." Lance yawned leaning back in his chair hands held behind his head. "Why don't we just jump to another part of the galaxy?"

"We'll be able to soon." Allura's voice echoed in their ear pieces. "A few of the reflecting discs are out of alignment. Coran is fixing them now."

"Well, I'm going for a closer look." Lance pushed forward with his lion. "Maybe something-"

"-Lance! Look out!" Pidge screamed and Lance's eyes widened as a bolt of purple and black lightning headed straight towards him. Lance knew he didn't have the speed to dodge the oncoming bolt and readied himself to receive the deadly blow. But the blow never came, he was however thrown back as Keith's lion appeared in front of him taking the hit and slammed heavily into his blue lion causing the two to smash into the castle. The shock from the bolt pulsed through the red lion and burned Keith's hands causing the teen to snatched his hands away from his console grunting at the impact of Lance's lion against the castle.

"Guys are you okay?" Hunk called out sighing in relief as two painful groans answered.

"Return to the castle, we are jumping in five ticks."

"Come on Keith." Lance attempted to shove the red paladin's lion away. "We gotta get in!"

"Red isn't responding." Keith pulled at the controls, "She's offline."

"Great!" Lance flew his hands in the air. "You save me just to kill me anyway."

"Stop being so dramatic." Keith rolled his eyes, "We're practically wedged in the castle, we'll be fine."

The jump took less than a second and within that time the Red Lion had managed to reboot with alarming warnings flashing continuously at Keith. That bolt did some serious damage and Keith gently lifted the lion to its feet and winced at the horrible squeaking and thunking noises it made as he slowly lifted it into space. He felt the lion groan and he hummed in apology, slowly entering the castle being flung forward as the red lion finally collapsed and slowly blinked off. Keith picked himself up and exited his lion, the burning in his hands had doubled and he finally glanced down at them and his breath left him. His left hand was purple, small like claws were sprouting out where his fingernails should be and Keith began to shake. This can't be happening. He was turning into a Galra. His other hand was speckled with purple like it had when he was hit by the druid back at the transportation hub. Keith stiffened and swiftly clasped his hands behind his back as the hanger door opened revealing the team rushing towards him. His eyes found Allura cautiously following he could see the hesitation in her but he knew that she didn't want him harmed, Galra or not he was still the Red Paladin.

"Keith are you okay?" Shiro asked, standing before him glancing at the lion behind him.

"Fine," Keith shrugged. "Red isn't doing so good though."

"That was quite a hit," Coran added. "I'm surprised it didn't rip you apart."

Keith attempted not to wince at the heat in his palms and tried to ignore the pain just nodding in agreement.

"Pidge if you don't mind, could you take a look at the lion?" Allura turned to the Green Paladin. "I'm sure your expertise will speed up the lions healing process."

  ***  

Keith stood under the shower ignoring the water droplets as he stared at his hands. His stomach was knotting itself making him feel nauseous. He couldn't hide this, there was no way they wouldn't notice the claws let alone the purple pigment of his skin. He could have banished the idea of his Galra heritage since he looked human but now he began to look like one, like an unbreakable curse finally coming to the surface. Keith attempted to ignore it as he washed the grime from his body and hissed lightly as the claws sliced at his skin, it only pierced the top layer and Keith wondered how deep his claws could go. Shivering at the thought the Red Paladin turned the water off and redressed.

He found himself heading back to his lion where Pidge was working tirelessly to help his lion regenerate faster. The hanger opened and Keith smiled slightly at the girl typing away at her computer, pushing her glasses further up on her nose.

"Hey, Pidge."

"Hey, Keith." She greeted with a wave, not bothering to glance up. "You're lion took on some serious damage."

"Is she gonna be okay?" Keith popped a brow as he approached closer peering over her head at the screen she was clicking away on.

"Yeah, with a little help she'll be as good as new." Pidge grinned.

"What's that?" A strange icon had Keith tilting his head and pointing at the symbol completely forgetting his purple hand until Pidge gasped and lurched away. Keith quickly snatched his hand away and held it behind his back in shame.

"Your hand."

Keith didn't speak he glanced away in disgrace, he hadn't meant expose his Galra form let alone scare Pidge. He turned back as the girl stretched around him bringing his hands back to the front, holding them in her pale palms. There was a vast difference and Pidge couldn't help but let her hand glide over Keith's fully formed Galra hand.

"How did this happen?"

"When I jumped in front of Lance the bolt shot through the lion and burnt my hands." Keith bowed his head. "It's happened before."

"What? When?" Pidge gasped.

"Back at the transportation hub, the druid shot a bolt at me, my shield took most of the impact but he burnt my hand." Keith locked eyes with Pidge. "That yellow stuff, Quintessence, it healed the burn, my Galra DNA retracted."

"And you didn't tell anyone?"

"I didn't think anything of it." Keith frowned. "I thought it was just a strange burn."

"So you connected the dots when you figured out that you were part Galra." Pidge let the boy's hand go. "So your DNA comes forth when you're hit by a druid?"

"I guess so."

"Does Allura know?"

"No." Keith quickly shook his head. "She can't know."

"You can't keep this a secret, what if it spreads?" Pidge pushed his jacket arm up, lightly outlining the spotted edge where Galra met human.

"I'll deal with that when I get to it." Keith pinched his brow together. "For now, can we just keep this between us?"

"Okay but, it doesn't matter what you are, you're still Keith." Pidge smiled up at him and pressed her palm against Keith's and the red paladin thanked the girl with a small sad smile.