A Fight To Finish (Shidge/Klance AU)

28- New Information, New Fears

The first person to notice that Keith had awakened was Shay, who had been facing the bed he laid in. Her eyes quickly widened for a moment at his consciousness and she appeared worried as she turned to the rest of the group to whisper something. Allura and Katie turned to see Keith before Shay could finish her sentence. Allura's face was unreadable, but her eyes told that she was caught off guard and unsure of something, and Katie flashed a small happy smile that quickly faded as soon as she registered him. The others simply looked surprised and slightly horrified.

 Keith attempted to reposition himself into a sitting stance, but every muscle he tried to move pulled taunt with soreness. He hissed, face grimacing at the discomfort. Katie rushed to his side, her eyes wide with concern. It was just as Lance had told him, she was usually the first to go to someone's aid. 

"Woah, are you hurting, Keith?" she asked, but it was as if her voice was farther away then right next to the bed the mullet baring boy laid in. It was sorta like Katie was speaking through water. Even his vision was a little muddled.

Still, the touch of Katie's hand on his forearm was more than enough to prove that this was reality and not some foggy dream sequence like the ones he had when he was unconscious. Her touch burned almost as if she was far warmer then Keith was.

Peering at her face through his bangs, Keith assured, "I'm fine... just disoriented." His voice was deeper than normal and sorta foreign, even to himself. He sounded different. 

Keith glanced back to the group and they all snapped their eyes in different directions to avoid further eye contact. The reaction was confusing and concerning, but the dark-haired male found  Lance's and Matt's lack of presence more important.

Speaking to Katie once more, Keith asked, "Where's your brother and Lance? And what's with everyone? Something happened, didn't it?"

The small Holt took a deep breath, releasing the warm air slowly. "What do you remember last?" she replied, not meeting his eyes.

"I remember Slav's place. My dad and... well, that Shiro and I have several early versions of the virus pumped in our veins," Keith admitted, finding that even making facial expressions hurt to try.

Katie slowly nodded her head, the news not phasing her in the slightest. Her hand grabbed Keith's own and raised it for the boy to look at. He was purple. A deep purple pooled at his fingertips and his nails were slightly sharpened and longer than he usually kept them. From their, purple faded to a lighter shade then colored his entire arm.

Panic filtered into his system as a shout escaped his lips in his panicked state, "What the Voltron!? Is my arm necrotic? What happened, Katie? Please tell me, I sorta freaking out here!"

It was Katie who responded, but Allura. "None of us truly know the answer to that, Keith, but it is most definitely not necrotic. Katie showed up in the backyard a couple days ago. You were completely comatose, nothing we did would wake you," the light-haired woman explained, voice flat.

Katie gently put Keith's arm back down at his side and spoke up, "Shortly after we administered Shiro's medicine, we noticed your skin was starting to exhibit what looked to be bruises. We soon realized that they were not bruises... Keith, you are entirely purple and your, uh, eyes are a solid yellow color. Even your hair changed."

Like before, her voice was not clearly registered. He barely understood what Katie was trying to say, but he felt his pulse quicken. "Mirror. Is there a mirror!?" he hastily whispered, eyes darting around as he attempted to turn his head. He found that movement was too restricted by the dull throb of sore muscles but not enough to restrain him.

Shay brought him one she swiped off of a nearby cabinet and awkwardly placed it in his purple hand. Raising the mirror up enough to display his own face, Keith embraced himself for what he was to see. A shocked cry forced its way out of his throat and into existence. 

Before him was an image that minimally resembled his normal appearance. Round, bright yellow eyes met his from the reflection. Dishriveled, unruly hair framed his face, cupping his cheeks. Just as Katie told, his entire body was now purple, but he felt it. That was not the only change.

He forced himself up despite the stiffness he was experiencing to get a better look at the rest of his body. Snatching the blanket off of him, Keith saw that his frame was larger, more muscular than before. His limbs appeared longer, too.

"We have hypothesized that this was the side effect of the testing your father put you through. We know that Kogane would administer the early virus on you as experiments, Allura told us the whole story, and since you were given the antidote Slav made, maybe all that hidden virus surfaced," Katie offered, standing up from where she had been seated at his side.

Allura scoffed at her statement. "Or we can't trust this Slav figure since he is working for Kogane! He may have spiced that dosage and only worsened the effects those serums had on Keith," his adopted sister snapped, furrowing her brows and throwing a hand up.

"We can't know that for sure, and the antidotes Slave made for everyone else worked! It saved Nadia," Hunk intervened softly, finally speaking.

Coran coughed to get their attention and inclined, "Maybe we can discuss this elsewhere? Not in the office we have three patients in?"

At Coran's words, Keith gave the room one more scan, finally noticing someone he failed to previously. A young woman holding a small kitten in the bed beside his and behind Katie. She enduringly waved at him with a tiny smile. Her eyes were cautious, but she seemed good-willed.

Allura had crossed her arms by time Keith looked back and Hunk was already holding the door open, talking to a voice Keith knew. Lance appeared through the doorframe, relief and elated joy decorating his beautiful smile and eyes.

Lance was swiftly upon Keith, taking the spot adjacent to where Katie stood and grabbing Keith's hand. "I'm so glad you are awake!" Even though Lance still beamed at him with the same familiarity he always gave the other boy, Keith still felt the feeling of disgust raise in the pits of his stomachs. Glancing at his new appearance in the handheld mirror that remained in his lap, the disgust grew larger in Keith.

Lance should not look at him in the state he's currently in because Keith was nothing more than a monster, a defiled man that was most likely more dangerous than anyone in the room could ever think. 

So, he pulled his hand free and turned his entire body away from Lance, shielding the Latino from witnessing the horrid change in Keith. His heart weighed heavy in his chest as he struggled to pull the cover back over his expanded silhouette. 

There's this DND podcast that's really getting me through the boringness of winter break (and a recent breakup) that I would love to share if it wasn't branded for adults.