Keith had brought Pidge yet another green goop dinner and forced the small girl to take a break. She hadn't stopped working since Keith crash landed his lion. He couldn't help but notice the girl watching him, the way his hand would twitch under the heat of the plate or the way the spoon sat between his Galra fingers. Keith honestly didn't mind Pidge staring intriguingly at him like that, the girl accepted him for who he was but he couldn't help but wonder how long that would last. If his Galra DNA did spread then would the girl still look at him the same when he grew ears? Had yellow pupils? Or extremely sharp canines?

"Do you remember your parents?"

Keith glanced from his plate to find Pidge staring directly into his eyes. His father yes, the man was a country boy through and through, when he died Keith had been taken to the orphanage close to the city.

"I remember bits of my dad, he passed away when I was five." Keith explained, "He never spoke of my mother. Now I guess I know why."

"So you don't recall anything about her?" Pidge seemed saddened by this. She had a loving family and she couldn't fathom ever being without her mother.

"No." Keith shook his head. "Nothing."

"And your father never spoke of her?"

"No, I mean I remember one thing he said," Keith put his plate down, examining his hands as he spoke. "He said she was beautiful. A woman who knew right from wrong."

"Haven't you ever thought about trying to find out who she was?"

"Of course, I checked the orphanage records, the garrison records." Keith slid down to the floor bringing his knees to his chest. "I tried everything."

"Do you think when this is all over we could go look for our families?" Pidge sat beside him, twiddling her fingers.

"You mean together?"

"Well yeah, why not?"

"O-Okay." Keith agreed, caution of his face before letting a genuine smile appear as Pidge chewed away at her goop.

  ***  

"No that's not going to work." Coran shook his head. "Zarkon will just bypass the laser."

"Well, couldn't we just-"

"It's not going to work." Allura slammed her hands down in frustration snapping at the talkative blue paladin.

"Perhaps we should contact the Blade of Marmora again." Shiro flinched ever so slightly as Allura turned sharply towards him. "They had a solid plan."

"We will not be associating with them again."

"Allura this isn't about you anymore." Shiro finally stood his ground, he understood what Allura was feeling but it was clouding her judgement.

"Excuse me?" The princess gasped and Lance put a hand to his mouth covering his amused but shocked mouth.

"You need to put aside your hatred for the Galra and see the bigger picture." Shiro swung his arm across his body. "This is about defeating Zarkon and saving the universe! The Blade of Marmora have a full proof plan and you can't just push them to the side because they're Galra."

"We can find another way." Allura snapped.

"No, we can't!" Shiro yelled right back, "We've stood here for hours and we've come nowhere close."

"We just need time."

"We don't have time! We need to move and we need to move now!"

"You can't-"

"Princess if I may?" Coran interrupted her placing a hand on her shoulder, receiving a nod he continued, "I think it might be best to contact the Galra."

"Coran?" Allura spoke speechless, holding her arm tightly in protest.

"I know it hurts princess." Coran bowed his head before looking at Allura directly. "But it's the only way."

Allura breathed heavily closing her eyes, her heart was refusing to listen to the logic her friends were sprouting but her brain was convincing her that Shiro was right. She clenched her fists to her side internally battling against herself before she turned to the black paladin.

"Very well. We'll head back to the Blade of Marmora." Allura headed to her station. "But do not expect the same hospitality we received the first time around."

  ***  

"Where are we going?" Pidge pounced to her seat after Allura had called the rest of the paladins to the helm. She took a quick glance to Keith to find him with his arms crossed, his hands not visible to the naked eye. Pidge could see how rigid he was, flickering his eye to the princess before shifting his arms attempting to conceal his purpled skin.

"We're heading back to the Blade of Marmora," Allura announced a small amount of venom in her voice. "It seems they are our only hope in defeating Zarkon."

"We're going back?" Keith seemed to lighten slightly at the princess's words, his arms slackened a little before he remembered and stiffened.

"Yes, and we'll need you to convince them to help us." Coran turned to him and smiled. Keith never liked it when Coran smiled at him like that, it always meant he was up to something.

"So what your saying is that the universe is resting on Keith's smooth talk?" Lance smirked humorously before feigning death. "It was an honour to fight with you guys."

"Shut up." Keith snapped at him, stopping himself before he went further knowing the fight would escalate and he may betray what he was hiding.

"I suggest you get some rest before we reach them, it'll take a while until we're able to jump again." Coran pouted lightly. "You to princess."

  ***  

When Keith opened his eyes, his heart stopped. Fear radiated off him as he stood before a Galra emblem pulsing lightly in the red light. He took a step back running down the hall skidding to a stop when he heard two voices. He plastered himself against the wall, peering around the corner and his brow rose.

"Please, Rarg you're the only one I can turn to."

"But Nara, if the emperor finds out, or Haggar."

"They can't know. Please Rarg, save him."

Keith could see the conflict in the druid's eye and watched as he sighed in defeat and gently pressed his finger against the bundle in the woman's hands.

"I can't remove all traces but I can retract the physical aspect of his Galra heritage."

"Do it." The woman pleaded. "Please."

"What are you going to do with him?" The druid asked as he finished the flickering of his dark magic fading.

"Send him far away from here. Somewhere Zarkon can't find him."

Keith could see the determination on the woman's face and when she turned and the bundle came into view Keith choked.

Keith yelped as he woke, sweat covered him and as his eyes come into focus he sighed heavily, dragging a hand through his hair. Keith lifted his other hand and stopped as his clawed fingers had torn through the fabric of his blanket. Bundling it into a ball Keith angrily chucked it across the room. What had he just witnessed? When that woman turned the bundle towards him. The baby. It was him. Perhaps it was only a dream. He was only trying to make sense of who he was so he dreamed something up. Keith found himself grabbing the blade from under his pillow, rubbing his thumb over the Marmora symbol. Finish the trials and the truth will be revealed. Nothing did happen when it transformed other than exposing his Galra heritage. Of course, that was huge but it showed nothing else, who his mother was, where he had come from, nothing he wanted to know.

A thudding knock to Keith's door had him jumping from his thoughts and attempted to calm his now racing heart as he snapped at the closed door.

"What?"

"We're about to jump. You're up." Lance's voice announced.

"Okay, I'll be there in a minute."

***

Standing on the bridge centre of attention was something Keith was not at this moment enjoying. That had just made contact with the Blade of Marmora and they had specifically asked to speak with Keith. Allura protested only to be silenced by both Coran and Shiro before the group left the bridge. As soon as the doors had closed Keith's attention was taken as Kolivan appeared on the communication screen.

"Keith."

"Kolivan." Keith gulped, the Galra was still as intimidating as ever and the paladin had to straighten his posture to ensure the man didn't sense the fear beginning to creep in. "We would like to reconsider working together."

"We?" Kolivan smirked a little. "It seems the princess has finally come to her senses."

"That's it? You'll cooperate?" Keith seemed a little shocked, he imagined he'd have to beg for the Galra to accept. The red paladin almost acknowledged that Lance was may have been right. He was not good at persuading people, he could threaten but that wouldn't have worked with Kolivan.

"Of course," The Galra crossed his arms. "The universe is at stake and I do not judge a book by its cover simply because of their race."

Keith let his hands fall to his side and closed his eyes, he sighed in relief, thank god they accepted. His eyes snapped open as the Galra spoke again.

"Your hands. Keith, your hands are Galra." Kolivan began to put his helmet on. "Antok and I will be at your ship shortly."

The communication shut off and Keith quickly shook his head and headed to the door where his friends were waiting. The door swished open and they all look at him.

"They're on their way."