Growing Pains (A Voltron Legendary Defender Fan Fiction)

Chapter 14

After his conversation with Shiro, Keith went into the bathroom, locking the door behind him just in case. He looked down at his hands and sobbed. Were his fingernails had once been, were a set of sharp claws that had literally ripped through his skin.

He grabbed a towel to try to clean off some of the blood, but he only succeeded in ripping it to shreds. Blood kept spilling out of his hands as he got a closer look at his newest addition. "How am I going to hide these..."

He slowly brought one claw to his arm, and slowly pressed down. It didn't take but a second for it to break skin. In anger, Keith turned around and clawed at the wall, leaving a deep scratch. He was so angry, he didn't even realize he was growling. He turned to look at himself in the mirror and saw that his eyes had turned yellow for a second. He willed himself to calm down, and they were soon back to their usual purple.

He let out a deep breath and tried to calm himself. "At least that's one change I can control..."

He thought about calling Kolivan but eventually decided against it. He knew exactly what he would say if he called, and he really didn't want to hear it right now. He had been right, he should have told them when he looked more human. Before he got as far into this mess as he had. But it's too late now, and there's no going back...

"So, you actually talked to him? Like, he spoke back?" Pidge asked.

Shiro nodded, "Yeah he did. But he didn't say much."

After he had talked to Keith, Shiro went back to the pool room to talk to the rest of the team. They had all quickly dried off and were now discussing things in the lounge.

"What did he say?" Hunk asked.

"I didn't understand most of it," Shiro admitted. "I asked him if he was alright, and he said yes. I asked if I could come in, and he said that he had cut his hand, and was now embarrassed."

"How do you cut your hand on a beach ball?" Lance asked skeptically.

"What else did he say?" Pidge asked.

Shiro continued, "I asked if he trusted me, he said yes. I then asked why he couldn't tell me what was going on."

"And what did he say to that?" Hunk and the others were on the edges of their seats.

"He said..." he looked down, "He said he didn't know how he could go on if I hated him..."

"So whatever he is hiding... he thinks we will hate him for it..." Allura murmured quietly.

"Oh, Keith..." Pidge said with sadness.

Lance suddenly slammed his fist on the table, startling them out of their grief. "Then we'll just have to do something about that!"

"Like what?" Hunk looked down, "We've tried just about everything to get him to tell us, and none of it has worked."

"Then we just need to prove to Keith that he is loved, no matter what is going on," Lance stated firmly.

Pidge cocked her head, "How do you do that?"

"By supporting him." Shiro supplied. "Reminding him at every opportunity that we are his friends, and we care about him."

"Do you think it'll work?"

"It has too," Shiro answered. "It's the only idea we've got..."

(A/N - hey guys, thanks for reading. When I say Vol, you say...)