Growing Pains (A Voltron Legendary Defender Fan Fiction)

Chapter 12

It had now been a couple months since Keith's fangs had come in, which meant that he only had 2 more months before these changes would finally be over. So far nothing else drastic had changed so he was feeling optimistic. His eyesight had gotten better, and he now had an increased sense of smell to go with his improved hearing, but all of those were changes he didn't actually mind.

That day Voltron was going on their first mission in a couple weeks. There was a satellite run by the Olkarions that had recently been having some trouble with Galra fighters. So, the team was on their way to help them out.

For the most part, it was a pretty routine mission. Pidge flew in with the green lion first, getting a read of the situation while she was in stealth mode. Once she had gathered enough information, she signaled to the others, and they all flew in to join her.

Things were going fairly well. This was the kind of fight when they did better without Voltron, so they all flew around in their separate lions, taking out fighters left and right. They had almost defeated the fleet when Keith noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

He saw a fighter heading straight for the black lion. It wasn't firing at him, instead, it appeared like it was trying to crash into it and take black down with it. Victory or death... and the worst part, Shiro didn't see it coming.

"Shiro! On you're right!" Shiro and the rest of the paladin's eyes widened. That voice had been Keith's. but it sounded... strange... Shiro didn't have time to dwell on it though for when he turned, he saw what Keith had been warning him about. With a quick blast, he was able to take down the fighter, effectively ending the battle. After a short 'thank you' from the Olkarions, they all flew back to the castle of lions.

"So, you can talk?" Keith exited his lion and was met by Shiro and the rest of the teammates. They didn't look angry, but they did look hurt. He nodded.

"If you are able to talk, then why don't you?" Lance asked. "And why don't you ever eat with us anymore?"

"Is it..." Pidge looked like she was on the verge of tears, "Is it because you... hate us...?"

Keith's eyes widened and he immediately shook his head. He then knelt down and wrapped her in a hug. They knew that Keith must have been hurting as well if he was the one imitating contact. It was obvious that Keith wasn't doing this because he wanted to. He had a reason. And Shiro was going to figure it out...

Later that day, Shiro asked Keith to go do some recon on a planet they were planning to liberate in the next couple days. He told him he was sending him because red was the fastest lion, but in reality, he just wanted to have a meeting with the rest of their friends.

"Ok, I'm sure you all don't like talking behind Keith's back, but this is the only way that we are ever going to figure out what is going on." Shiro began. "I want to help him..."

Hunk tapped his chin, "He stopped talking around two months ago. Is there anything that could have happened around that time?"

"Let me check our logs..." Coran began tapping on a screen. "Two months ago, the team liberated several planets with the Blade of Marmora, we made stops at Olkarion and the space mall, oh and a month before that there was that weird training session."

"That's right..." Allura recalled, "That was when Keith punched a hole through one of the bots."

"He also was like, super-fast," Lance commented.

"Wasn't that also around the time that Keith started having those weird migraines?" Hunk asked. "Maybe that has something to do with it."

"Maybe..." Shiro thought over this new information. "So, whatever is going on, started about 3 months ago... Pidge, pull up the audio from our fight today. I want to hear Keith again..."

Pidge did as he asked, and I moment later, the heard Keith's voice coming over the speakers.

"Does he sound strange to you?" Lance asked after listening to the recording several times.

"Yes, he does sound... different..." Allura agreed.

"It might have just been the stress of the situation." Hunk theorized.

"Or maybe simply because he hasn't spoken for so long," Coran added.

"I don't know..." Shiro wondered. "I think there's more to Keith that we aren't seeing..."

(A/N - hey guys, thanks for reading. Happy 4th of July. When I say Vol you say...)