Lost not Broken

Chapter 17

Keith's POV

Storm and I sat on my bed, taking turns playing Fortnite on the Xbox. Well... more so shouting at the other to play better. It had become a normal thing ever since Pidge and Lance had introduced gaming to her. "NO NO NO GO GET THAT OTHER GUY!" I shouted, reaching for the controller. "Let me do this! I-" Her character died. "Ugh." Storm dropped the controller onto the ground, flopping back into the pillows. I grinned, flopping into the pillows as well. The two of us sat in silence. I enjoyed it honestly. She didn't expect me to talk. We could just hang out, not try to awkwardly chat.

Unfortunately, the silence didn't last long tonight.

"Hey Storm?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember when you and Pidge were arguing a couple days ago about whether her reaction was normal or not?" I asked. "I do." She replied. "Well, I don't know why I only thought of this now, but what's a mate?" Storm made a weird choking sound. "D-Did I say something offensive?!" I panicked. "N-No, not at all. I uh... n-nevermind. Anyways, a mate is one's romantic partner, and or a person that you've had a biological child with. Humans refer to mates as husbands and wives, if married." She explained. "Oh. That makes sense. Sorry, that was a dumb question, I know." I said. "Nah, it's not a dumb question. Meif'Wa use a lot of terms humans use to when referring to animals as our everyday words, such as mates. We also call our young kits, as in kittens." Storm shrugged, pulling a pillow out from under her head, covering her face with it.

Another random thought ran through my head.

"Do you want kids?

"Not anytime soon, if at all. I'm not great with little ones, I've still got things I want to do, and... just not ready." She shrugged.

"Fair enough."

"What about you?" My friend questioned.

"I... uh... I-I don't know. I grew up an orphan, and didn't really hang out with anyone, and then I joined Voltron, s-so I've not really had the chance to even interact with a kid. I'd be a horrible father." I replied.

"Stop being so hard on yourself, Keith! You literally just said you've never even been around kids! How would you know whether you'd be a good parent or not?" Storm stifled a laugh. "Just a feeling, I guess." I muttered, looking away in embarrassment. "Hey, at least you'll be around kids soon enough. You can see how you act then." She reminded me.

"Huh?"

"Pidge is pregnant, remember?"

"Oh yeah. How much longer does she have?" I asked. "Oh lordy lemme think..." Storm set the pillow to the side, her brow furrowing as she calculated something with her fingers. "I think about three months. Meif'Wa are only pregnant for two months, so I had to remember how long humans were. I feel bad, carrying around a child for nine months must be exhausting!" She said. "Well as far as I know, nine months comes in handy, people usually have time to prepare. How the heck do you manage to get everything ready in under two months?!" I asked. "Haha, two months if we're lucky. Most often it's like seven weeks. In extremely rare cases Meif'Wa get up to three months." She laughed. "Wait, so, what do you do if your kid decides to come early? What if you're in the middle of nowhere?" I frowned, at this point utterly confused.

"Then our child is born in the middle of nowhere."

"Even if you're by yourself?"

"It's not like we have much of an option."

"And what happens if something goes wrong?" I continued.

"Then we both die."

"What is WRONG with your species?! And here you are, saying humans have it rough!" I shouted, flinging my arms up in defeat. "In a way they do. Y'all have like these ridiculous problems with admitting that you're pregnant. Just get it over with. If it goes well, good. If not, oh well, find another mate or raise your kid on your own." She shrugged. "I'm pretty sure we don't do that because we usually love the person we're telling. You... do know what love is, right?" I asked curiously. Storm's ears flattened, her face suddenly displaying grief. "I-" Her voice cracked. "I did."

"What do you mean you did?"

"I had an older sister. She was the only family I had left. My parents had been killed in a previous fight with the Galra years before. I never really knew them. My sister looked out for me. I loved her more than anything. She was there no matter what, always had my back. Unfortunately, it... ended up getting her killed." Storm began to explain.

"I had started having flashbacks to the fight when my parents were killed. They got so bad that I actually thought it was happening at that moment. I basically went feral, which is when you're completely overridden by your animal instincts. My sister tried to stop me from blowing up the town. She jumped in front of me, and... I killed her. With my own claws. I changed forms as it happened, back to my Meif'Wan form. I stared in horror as she choked on her own blood, torn to nothing but shreds. My sister smiled at me, and said 'Go find them,' before she took her last breath. I begged her to wake up, I screamed and cussed at her, wishing she was there. But I had killed her, and there was nothing I could do. So I buried her under her favorite tree, turned away, and never looked back." Storm was fighting back tears.

"Storm, I-I'm so sorry." I whispered. "Don't be. It's not your fault." She shook her head.

We sat in silence for a while, just breathing and thinking.

"Who did your sister want you to find?" I asked quietly.

"Voltron."

"What? Why Voltron?" I frowned.

"I don't know yet. But I'll figure it out."