We're Going Home

14

DNA ~Lia Marie Johnson
The moment she left Keith was on the verge of screaming. But he didn't. Because he didn't want anyone in the castle rushing to save him. Yeah, it hurt, but he didn't want them to see him, to see what he was becoming.

He watched as the purple inched toward his waist and raced down his other leg. He tugged his pant legs down like if he could ignore it, it wouldn't be happening, and the excruciating pain would subside. He, of course, could never be this lucky.

So, there he sat, biting a pillow and hoping no one would come in. This only meant that someone had to come in. Because Lance was the king of inconvenience. "Keith?"

"Go away!" He yelled through the door.

"Listen I'm sorry for whatever I did to hurt you. I wanna make amends, will you let me in?" Lance's chest hurt. He could let Keith go, but he had to at least talk with him first.

"Lance! Just get out of here. I don't want to talk!" Waves of pain washed over him, insatiable, stubborn.

Lance felt a certain rage fill his chest. No, he wouldn't. He didn't deserve to be denied all the time. "I tried asking nicely. I'm coming in now." He pressed something to the door then shoved it back into his pocket. The door opened and shut behind him. His eyes widened upon the scene inside.

Keith's pale arms were stained with purple. He scrambled to cover himself up. "I said I didn't want you coming in!"

"This is what they did." He whispered gently, looking over Keith. "Does it hurt?"

"No, I just bite pillows because I think the taste nice. Of course it Quiznaking hurts, you idiot." Keith snapped, but something came to his attention. He didn't see pity or disgust or any of the other things he'd expect to see in Lance's eyes. Instead, he saw a different emotion. One he barely recognised in himself. Love. He'd never been looked at that way before. Especially while changing into some horrendous monster (not that he'd had prior experience). What the hell was up with Lance? "Aren't you disgusted? Appalled? Consumed with disbelief?" Keith asked, truly wanting to know.

"You were always Galra, Keith. Now you just look like one." Lance sat down on the ground.

Keith narrowed his eyes at him. Who the hell was this? The Lance he knew would be making fun of him.

"Besides, at least you won't be able to see the hickies soon." Lance added and gave him a lopsided grin.

There he was.

"Shut up, McClain."

"You really went to town on me. I mean they're all over." He joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Just shut up." He could help but crack a smile. At least Lance seemed to be okay. Which was good. If he could just stay that way until Keith got his own feelings sorted out then they'd both be good. "Why are you still here?"

"Thought you might need some morale support." He was also here to talk but he wanted to push that off for as long as possible. So for now, he could lie. "I can leave." He pointed at the door.

"No!" Keith reached after him. "I mean, don't. I don't want the others to see."

He could feel it crawling up his neck like a fire. His DNA reassembling into a code that had always been there but wasn't meant to be used. Keith yelped in pain.

Lance was at his side in a moment, eyes filled with worry. "Is there anything I can do to help you?"

Keith closed his eyes and shook his head. "Just don't leave."

"Never. I promise."

Lance couldn't really see why the Galra would simply change Keith to look like his other half, but to Keith, it was all very clear. If Allura didn't distrust him in the first place, she definitely would now. She wouldn't even be able to look at him. And the others? They'd be horrified. Why wasn't Lance horrified?

Keith's eyes focused on the Blue Paladin, like he was the last thing those deep brown eyes would see. Purple crept up his face, turning his teeth pointed, his ears gigantic, his eyes yellow. He passed out from pain.

...

Keith surfaced slowly to a conversation occurring in the room.

"What do we do?"

"I don't know what to do! Allura's gonna flip out and try to kill him."

"Well at least he still had the mullet. I would've missed it. Besides, he's kinda cute like this."

"Not helping, Lance."

"I suggest we just tell the others, they'll get over it."

"You're forgetting that Galra killed Allura's entire planet."

"Yeah, but Keith didn't. She'll get over it."

"Shhhh, he's waking up."

Keith's eyes fluttered open slowly. Everything seemed to look different now. The lights were off but he could see perfectly, though in a different way than he was used to.

Matt flipped on the lights and Keith's eyes snapped shut again, a migraine running through his head. "What the hell?" He groaned tiredly.

"Sorry, that wasn't the plan, but Matt's an idiot so." Pidge said, glaring at her older brother.

"You were out for about a week buddy. Everyone was worried. Though most of them let me tend to you. Except Pidge. Pidge is stubborn." Lance knelt by his bed. His eyes were heavy laden with loss of sleep.

"She's like 4'11" you could've just stopped her." Keith rubbed his eyes. Had Lance stayed up to watch him? What an idiot.

"5'1", thanks." She punched him in the arm.

"She's sneaky!" He held out his hands like, 'what did you expect me to do?'

"Whatever. I'm starving, why are you all in my room?" He pulled the pillow over his head again and groaned.

"Ah, secret team meeting." Matt said excitedly. "I formed it myself. After demanding to see you."

"He cried." Lance corrected.

Already, in just the few days Keith had been out, the three had formed quite a bond. Pidge had gone from being ecstatic that Matt was here to being annoyed by him again.

What couldn't be seen on the surface, though, is that Pidge was still endlessly thankful that Matt was here next to her. And if she had it her way, he'd never leave her side again.

"I'm getting food." Keith rolled out of bed and slipped on his red jacket. He looked down at his hands and screamed. "I forgot!"

"Yeah, you can't really go out there." Matt pointed out.

The terror filled his chest again. What would the rest of the team think? He couldn't just stay in his room forever, hide this away. He at least knew two members accepted him. But what about Shiro, or Hunk? He didn't know if he was really worried about them either. But the way Allura would look at him? He couldn't stand that.

There was only one way to solve this. Though he hated to do it. "I'm leaving the team."