Voltron: Legendary Defender // Keith Kogane

Chapter 044.

After happily accepting her gift from Keith, Cira parts with him and finds Shiro. She was out of time. She needed to tell him, especially because she wanted to go on the mission. Cira approaches him on the Bridge and nudges him. He looks at her with a baffled expression. Cira looks around for a few ticks before her gaze rests on him, "Can I..." She looks around again to be sure, "talk to you?" Her voice was so quiet that Shiro could barely hear it. He nods and leaves the Bridge with Cira following behind him. The two duck into a room and Shiro sighs, his eyes apologetic, "About what you were trying to tell me earlier—"

"I'm ready to tell you." Cira shakes her head and speaks in a whisper, "I'm so ready to tell you."

"Tell me." Shiro pleads, "Please tell me. What did Zarkon say to you?"

Cira freezes. She lets out a breath, "I'm not sure if he's telling the truth yet, but he told me..." She pauses, "that I'm his daughter."

Shiro's eyes go wide. Cira watches as his face contorts into eight different expressions in less than 10 ticks. Cira looks down, "You hate me, don't you?"

"Hate you?" He questions and reaches his hand out to her shoulder, "Cira, like I said before, I could never hate you." He shakes his head. Her gaze fills with relief as it lifts to see him.

Shiro pulls his hand back, "Who else knows about this?"

"No one." Cira shakes her head slowly, "Just you and me. And Zarkon." She says his name with venom in her tone.

"Are you gonna tell them?"

"No, why should I? They'll hate me!"

"They won't hate you." Shiro shakes his head, his tone confident, "Cira, you're one of us. You're a part of this team. They won't hate you."

"How do you know?" Her voice shakes.

"Because I don't." He pauses, "And I have every reason to. And like you said before, you don't even know if it's true."

"And until I do, I'm not saying anything to them." She argues, not going to budge on the subject.

Shiro sighs in defeat, "Then, why'd you tell me?"

"Because the Blade of Marmora is my last chance to know the truth. I have to go on this mission." Shiro saw the look in her eyes. She was serious about this. His face falls, "I know how important this is to you—"

"—No, you don't!" Her voice raises into a yell, "For all I know, I'm the daughter of the most ruthless man in the universe. I'm a monster!" She starts to choke on her tears, "Everything in my life has been a lie! I need to know the truth, Shiro!"

"Okay, okay." Shiro lifts his hands and rests them on her shoulders, "Calm down. Calm down." He pauses. Was he really going to do this? Shiro closes his eyes for only a tick, giving in, "You can come on the mission."

Cira sighs in relief and wipes her eyes, "Thank you."

Shiro nods and pulls his hands back. Cira moves to leave, but his call stops her, "And Cira?"

"Yeah?" She turns around to face him.

"You're not a monster."