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***
Once Rahyn is safe on the healing pod, the members of the Sincline Force have been arrested and the Atlas turns back to collect all the people from the three cruisers to bring everyone back on Daibazaal, Keith takes a little time for himself. Just the time for a shower and wearing back his red paladin armor, before reaching for Shiro to the bridge.
Shiro gives him a soft smile. Keith can’t believe the first time they see each other in months has to be such a mess. Shiro seems to understand his feeling, because he nods.
“I called Acxa,” he says. “Situation in Daibazaal is… quite a mess right now.”
“How much a mess?”
“Thiny got to her, as I asked him to.” As Shiro explains, Keith takes a relieved breath about Shiro’s situation. “So they reach for every half-Galra and non-Galra on Daibazaal who has a pure-blood relative. They aren’t happy their relatives got taken without an explanation, and when they realized it didn’t happen only to them… well, they wanted an explanation.”
“Understandable,” Keith comments. “I still wonder how Voran and the other believe to get away with that…”
“Maybe they don’t. They would be happy only to succeed, not to survive from it.”
Shiro has a point. From all the discussions he had with them, they really thought killing the pure blood will sort of amend their mistake. It would be only natural they’re resigned to the same fate.
“But for now, they’re resisting,” Shiro continues. “Voran is still the head of the Blades, and Farux and Nuru still the Duaces. They send back the guards and the Blades to stop the demonstrators. They didn’t hold back.”
“So there’s a riot in Daibazaal right now?”
“From what I get, yes. Zethrid looked like she was enjoying herself.”
“Which isn’t good.”
“Not at all.” Shiro lets Keith a couple of minutes to process all the information, then speaks, “as a Terran Admiral, I shouldn’t involved in all this. But it’s kinda late right now, and as a Paladin of Voltron, I can’t stay put. Do you think landing the Atlas in the middle of Daibazaal would be too much?”
Keith shots him a smart smirk. “That surely should shake them enough to stop fighting for a while,” he admits. “Where are Voran and the others?”
“I don’t know about Voran and Ruxer. The Duaces are closed on the Town Hall for now. I can give you a hand to get there.” Shiro stretches his arm. “Quite literal.”
“Okay.” Keith nods. “I’ll go with the others. I want the Duaces to stop the army and the Blades, peacefully if I can. And I want to be sure there isn’t any poisoned gas on Daibazaal. Then, we can explain.”
“I’ll make Sam and Matt doing some review on Daibazaal, to see if they find something. In the meantime, I’ll stop the fight and keep the Galra inside, safe.”
“Thanks.”
There is no need to, since Shiro is doing Paladin’s work, but there isn’t a good way to part from him, so Keith just nods after that and leaves. He catches with the corner of his eyes as Shiro takes off the glasses and get ready to connect to Atlas’ soul.
The other Paladins are waiting for him at the meeting room, and he takes only one look for them to stand up and follow him in position. Everyone on the Atlas have their own spot, to not be throw away during the transformation. They take position on their own, near the place that will become Atlas’ shoulder.
“So, what’s the plan?” Lance asks.
Keith explains the situation, and the other nod. Pidge opens up her computer from her wrist. “If there is a bomb here, it should be activated by some command. My father has his way to stop these kind of signal. In the meantime, I can try to connect to Daibazaal’s net and check if there is something and deactivate it.”
“Good.” Keith nods. “But fastest way, let’s ask the Duaces directly.”
Once the Atlas enters in the Daibazaal’s atmosphere, it transforms. The Paladins wait for it to land graciously before getting out on the shoulder. The arm is stretched towards the Town Hall. With the help of their jetpack, they bounce to the metal arm and then land to the Town Hall’s roof, before jumping off on the terrace, the same where Keith met the Duaces for the first time in.
The window is open, but the tent covers what it’s inside. “Four people, at the table. Not weapons, at least not drew out,” Lance says.
Careful, weapons in their hand, the Paladin walk inside. Keith has barely the time to register who people sitting at the table are, that Ruxer jumps at him, claws at him. Hunk shot and even if Ruxer dodges the attack, it’s enough to make him slow, so Pidge can catch him and electrocute him with her whip.
“That was stupid, Ruxer,” Voran comments, even if Ruxer now lies unconscious on the floor. As promised, he got his battle, and it didn’t end well for him.
Next to Voran, at the table, are Nuru and Raxus: all three of them look tired, disappointed.
“So, we meet again, Red Paladin,” Nuru says. He doesn’t add anything, and Keith decides he won’t respond back. Pidge has already back out her computer, and she’s checking for information.
“We know everything,” Keith says. “We arrested Fixi, and everyone else that rules your prison. Just a last thing: tell us if there any poisoned gas in here.”
“Oh, yeah, the gas,” says Voran.
He lifts his arm, fist closed, as he has something in his hand. Lance shots, hitting Voran’s wrist, and Allura is ready to take with her whip whoever it’s in Voran’s hand. But there’s nothing. Keith wonders if Voran would like to be killed.
Farux stands up. “This isn’t necessary,” he comments, looking at Voran as he grits his teeth and presses the wound on his wrist. Farux turns his attention to the Paladins, and his gaze stops on Allura.
“I know what you think,” he says. “I know it looks bad. But you, better than anyone, should know how much the Galra are responsible to the destruction of the universe. We reach a non-turning point. The only way to amend our sins is to disappear.”
“You are Galra too,” Keith points out.
“Half-Galra,” Farux points out. “And you haven’t an idea how much it painful me. I don’t care to die here, but the others half-Galra… they have a chance, if they decide to follow only their other part. They can be saved.” His eyes are all on Allura. “You, more than anyone, should know how terrible Galra are, your majesty.”
“Allura…” Lance whispers.
“No.” Allura’s voice is steady, but she trembles a little. “I hate Galra for a long time. To be fair, from day to day I still hate them. But what you did… There is no way I’ll accept something like that. Never.” She turns her head to Keith, and places a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll trust Keith’s judgement in this.”
“So it’s over.” Farux looks smaller. “I’m sorry, but you’re wrong. You’ll see.”
Keith takes a step forwards. “Out there there’s a battle. People that fight against each other. You’re supposed to protect them. You created this situation. I spent my last months with pure-bloods. You’re wrong.”
Farux is about to speak again, but then he releases a muffled moan as a sword trusts through his chest. Nuru his behind him.
“It’s over,” he says, as he extracts back. “It’s useless.”
Keith reacts even if he knows it’s too late. He springs forwards, jumps on the other side of the table and slashes his sword at Nuru, just a second before he tries to kill himself. Keith makes Nuru falls behind and kicks the swords away.
“Why?” he asks.
“Victory… or death,” Nuru murmurs.
Keith sighs. “I’m sorry, but that’s not how Galra live anymore.” He turns and kneels down to Farux, blood spattering on his armor, his hand to cover the wound. Farux gurgles and coughs blood. “Allura, can you do something?”
She’s at his side, as the other Paladins get neat and keep an eye on Voran and Nuru. Allura places her hand next to Keith’s on Farux’s chest, but he already lost to blood. By the time Allura closes the wound, he’s already dead.
“I’m sorry,” she says to Keith. He doesn’t answer, just barely nods as he grits his teeth a little.
“I don’t think there’s bombs around,” Pidge says, as she checks with her datapad. “I can’t find any contact to detonate it either.”
“You win,” Voran spats, “aren’t you happy?”
“No one wins here,” Keith replies. “Come on, let’s go out and stop the battle.”
***
“I’m not sure landing with the Atlas in the middle of Daibazaal was a good idea,” Acxa comments, when Shiro contacts her. “Don’t you risk a diplomatic incident?”
“He got style, at least,” comes Zethrid’s voice.
“I have a plan,” Shiro assures her. “Just make sure to gather everyone next to the Atlas. We’ll protect them from the army.”
Acxa hesitates. “…Fine. I hope it’s a good plan.”
Shiro checks the situation and once the Paladins are out from his arm, he lets the Atlas kneeling down, so he can separate the two side of the plaza. He sees as Acxa, alongside with Ezor and Zethrid calls for the others next to the Atlas’ leg. Not everyone is ready to listen to them, but slowly a small group of various aliens and half-galra are in front of them.
Sam and Matt reach for Shiro on the bridge. “It’s clear,” Sam confirms. “The Spaceport is still close, so they wouldn’t be able to transport the bomb in the meantime.”
“And we close all the communication system, so they wouldn’t be able to detonated it from distance,” Matt adds. “Pidge sent me a message, there’s nothing inside the palace neither.”
“Good. Let everyone go out.”
They already asked all the Galra on board to stay ready next to the exit doors at the Atlas’ feet. Shiro lets the doors open, in a way that the pure-blood get out from Acxa’s side, while he lets the Blade waiting on the other side. From the bridge, he observes as the families reunite together. He sees Abana with his alien husband and his child, and he looks as Thiny calls for his parents, Kosmo at his side.
Only then he lets the Atlas transporting him downstairs, where the Blades are waiting. They get out together from the other side, in front of the town hall. The army and the other Blades are there, their army in their direction.
Shiro, in his paladin armor, is in the middle of the new group, but he lets Masira, on his side, speaks. Her arms are lifted in the air in a surrender position, but her voice is clear.
“We have to stop this,” she says. “We’ve been lying all along. The Duaces…”
She’s interrupted by some voices on the first row, most of them protest because of the Atlas’ presence. Aren’t the humans already stick their nose too much in the Galra’s affair? This isn’t about the entire universe. This is about the Galra themselves.
Shiro says nothing. He has a lot to comment about the people that tried to kill Keith, but for now, he agrees with them. That is a situation only Galra themselves can resolve.
Masira takes a deep breath, and continues. “The Duaces lied to us. They’re beyond all the Sincline Force’s attack. The Red Paladin-”
She is interrupted again, from people that complains about her speaking bad about the Duaces, about the Sincline Force, about the Red Paladin. Then, slowly, the complains lower, substitutes by some surprise exclamations. They come first from behind, then the crowd separates in two different part as Keith and the other Paladins walk in the square.
Keith’s armor is dirtied in blood and Shiro looks careful at him to see any wound; Allura’s hands are dirtied too, and that is enough to calm him down for a second. Keith’s expression is serious.
Shiro orders the Atlas to stand up and opens its legs a little, so the people on the other side can see what is happened and join them.
“What the hell…?” comes Zethrid’s high voice.
Kosmo teleports himself in front of Keith, alongside with Thiny and the red cosmic cat. Keith reserves a smile and a shoulder grip to Thiny, whose expression Shiro can’t see but imagine from their chat before. Then, Keith places the cosmic cat on his head and let his words flow directly to everyone’s mind.
Shiro expects Keith to explain the situation, explain why there is blood on his armor and what happened to the Duaces. But Keith’s first words are others.
“I’m sorry.”
***
Vixer has been strict about the visits. His patient needs rest, as much as she can guarantee him, until all the analyses reveal his health condition. But she can’t tell Keith no, for a countless number of reasons.
“Please,” she comments, as she opens the door of the hospital room, even if she doesn’t hide her disappointment.
“It’ll be short,” Keith assures her, and that softener her a little bit.
“Of course.”
Rhayn is surprised of Keith’s appearance in his room too. He lifts his eyebrow a little and tries to put himself in a straighter position from his bed.
“I get Zhimirian do exception for the Paladins too,” he comments. “They negate the visit even to my brother.”
“Vixer’s doing her job,” Keith defends her, even if he feels responsible for Rhayn’s forced solitude. “This is their first time for a Mixellu’s heart surgery to a non Zhimirian patient and they have to be careful.”
“Figures.”
“But it’s working,” Keith continues, as he sits down on a chair next to Rhayn’s bed. “And that may improve the medicine of the entire universe. Altean pod are great to heal wound, but with this kind of surgery, we may be able to heal people from genetic hear disease.”
“Well, at least inhaling a deadly poison gas has some unexpected positive outcomes, after all.” Keith presses his lips together, and Rahyn continues, “I know what I put myself into when you proposed me this surgery. Not that I have many choices, but still…” He places a hand over his chest. “The sound is different. Strange. But I’ll live with it.”
“You helped saving lives back then,” Keith says. “You’re a true hero.”
Rhayn’s lips curls into a little smile. He pins with his arm to sit down on the bed, and Keith helps him settling the pillows so he can rest his back against them.
“Tell me something about the world outside,” Rhayn asks. “I don’t know much, since I woke up from the healing pod just to go under surgery. I was told you gave everyone a hard lecture.”
Keith flushes. To be honest, he doesn’t remember much of his speech. He spoke mostly about how sorry he was to deceive everything but… yes, he was disappointed too at the fact that everyone was ready to go at each other’s throat. They shouldn’t have done it, and for sure they shouldn’t have done for his sake.
In a way, it sounded like a lecture.
“It was nothing like the lectures I received,” he comments. “My jaw is still sore from Zethrid’s punch.”
Rhayn laughs low, and the coughs a little. “May I suppose it’s her way to show how upset she was.”
“Yeah, but since he tried to kill me at least twice in the past, I was a little bit worried at first,” Keith replies, with a small smile. “Lance and Hunk were so upset too. I had to kneel down and swear to God I won’t do something like that ever again. And Pidge was pissed off that she had to keep that secret too, so I got a lecture from her too. And Allura. Allura complained a lot about how much time she had to grieve someone.”
His mother and Kolivan were the only one to not giving him a lecture. It’s understandable from the point of view of soldiers, but Keith couldn’t hide the sting of pain when his mother just hugged him tightly and said nothing.
Keith realizes Rhayns doesn’t know the Paladins by their name and it’s probably only courtesy he’s listening with care, so Keith shuts up.
“What about… Fixi and the others?” Rhayn asks, with a long sigh.
“They’re under arrest, waiting for their process. Farux is dead, and so Vormor, but the other will face the trial. There is enough evidence and most of them confessed, so there aren’t many doubts left about their plan.”
Rhayn nods. He looks sad.
“On the other side, I was forced to go around the planets of the Voltron coalition to assure them I’m still alive and this was a secret mission all along. You know, they aren’t happy to know they attended my funeral for nothing,” Keith adds.
This time, Rhayn laughs. “I image you have a lot of present to turn back.”
“Yep. But at least I managed to spend time with Shiro, since the Atlas accompanied me around, so it wasn’t as unpleasant as it sounds. And I mean, they have the right to be upset.”
“Looks like you didn’t understand how much your murder can affect the universe.”
Keith releases a small sigh. He knows he has some duty as a Paladin of Voltron. He knows. But it is true, he doesn’t realize just how much people know him and remember him. In a sort of way, it’s overwhelming.
“What about the government?” Rhayn changes argument, something Keith is grateful for. “We haven’t been luckily with the last Duaces, you know.”
“Well, new election will be held, but I start to think we should think to a better development form of government,” Keith replies. “Something that guarantee more safety than only two people taking decision.” He takes a small break. “That’s why I accepted Acxa’s proposal to running for election with her.”
“For real?” The news takes Rhayn by surprise, and he makes a sudden gesture that makes him whine in pain. “I mean,” he comments, once he regains his breath, “you rejected the idea until now.”
“I know. And I’m not really happy with this either, but…” Keith bits his lips. “After all that happened, I feel I need to do something more for the Galra. Voran and the others may be a little over their head, but hearing their guilt… made me realize how much works we have to do before we can heal the universe.”
“You don’t have to take all the weight by yourself,” Rhayn comments.
“I’ve been told that. Still, I’m not one to stay still.”
“Well, if it counts, you have my vote.”
Keith smiles. “Also, I need to stop by in Daibazaal from the time being. For my brother’s birth. I mean, I owe my mother much.”
And, to be fair honest, Keith doesn’t want to miss it too. He may have been a little scared at first, but he’s going to have another family member to take care of. He still missed his father, he missed the time they didn’t manage to spend together, and he sadden him that his father and his mother didn’t get to meet again. For this reason, he wants to be sure to be there for his brother.
Vixer peers from the door, a slight frown on her face. “Do you need to stay more?”
“I’m leaving,” Keith assures her, and her face lightens, as she doesn’t have to kick him out. She closes back the door to leave them for their goodbye.
Keith turns to reserve an apologetic smile to Rhayn, who shrugs. It can’t be helping. “Well, once you’ll be able to walk by yourself, I owe you a drink at the Witch’s Den. It opens again, you know.”
“Oh, good. Have you been there?”
“Yes. I owe them an apology too.”
“And?”
“They offered me a drink.”
Rhayn shakes his head and doesn’t look surprise at all. “And Thiny?”
“He’s good. He probably wants to become a Blades now. Looks like he enjoyed the all spying thing after all.”
“Good for him, I guess, not so much for you,” Rhayn laughs.
Keith is about to open the door to get out when Rhayn speaks again. “Back then, in the pod… you said we’re friend.” He swallows. “Did you mean that?”
“Why…” Keith blinks.
Some time, his mind is still trapped back at the Garrison, when Shiro was his only friend, and he still had problem to accept he had a friend and that friend was Shiro out of everyone. Shiro, the best pilot of his generation and Garrison’s golden boy. The hero of everyone.
Keith had a hard time to realize that, for a lot of people, he becomes what Shiro was back then. But it’s a thing he learned from Shiro and he won’t give up on that. So, before leaving the room, he smiles widens.
“Of course we’re friends.”
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