«W-who are you?»
Three words.
Three single words shattered all the hopes, dreams, and joys of Keyla.
Three words were enough to disrupt her world.
And now, as she stood there, staring stupidly at those gray eyes that were staring at her so lovingly only eighteen months ago, she didn't know what to say.
All that occurred to her was a phrase: "And now?"
«U-um... I-I'm K...» Keyla lingered «I'm Keith. Keith Kogane».
He didn't know exactly why she had lied, but for now it would have been better that way, he knew.
It was for the best. For Shiro.
«Are we... O-on Earth?» Shiro then asked. He seemed... Reluctant, insecure and maybe... Hopeful?
«Um... Yes. At the moment we are in my desert shack near the Galaxy Garrison. You are...» Keyla swallowed the lump in his throat and tried as much as possible to pretend not to know... The man she loved. «you're Takashi Shirogane, aren't you?»
Shiro stared at her. Then, he opened his mouth «Er... Yes, it's me» he stopped, unsure of what to say. Then, his face suddenly lit up «W-wait, did you say Galaxy Garrison? Does that mean I can finally see Adam again?»
Keyla stared at him, with a cold face, then got up and went to the bedroom. «I'll be right back,» she warned as she passed the door.
When she headed for his closet, she opened the two doors and got to her knees, at a wooden box with the most important things to her.
While she opened it, she caught a glimpse of some photos, including those with her father and, flipping through them, she saw some of her with Shiro.
The first was the two of them at sunset, while they were taking a selfie after Keyla's first successful jump from that cliff.
The second, however, was more intimate. They were the two of them, lying in bed, a little disheveled as they had just woken up. This was the day before the Kerberos mission. The mission that apparently took Shiro away from her.
They were both naked-backed, Keyla had covered her chest with the sheet and Shiro was kissing her on the cheek, laughing.
Keyla brought down a tear. Then two, three, four, until she lost the bill.
It wasn't fair. They had taken Shiro away for a year and a half and she spent a whole year screaming at the stars that they would bring him back, one way or another. And in the end they did, but at what price? Shiro had completely forgotten about her, and now, after a year and a half of disappearance, his first thought is his ex, Adam.
Keyla wiped away the tears and took the clothes, taking them to Shiro.
After the boy put them on, he warned that he would go out for a while.
-
«I don't know, Adam, doesn't it seem strange to you? The pilot's error came after the ship landed, so isn't it possible there is something else underneath? Something they try to hide from us? »
«Keyla, just... Let it go, okay?»
Adam looked so lost...
Who knows how it could be. The person he loved was deemed dead in a pilot error that Adam had warned Shiro numerous times now.
But in the end, at what cost did they break up?
If Shiro had remained for Adam, Keyla was sure that they would leave soon afterwards, given Shiro's shattered dreams.
Obviously he would never forgive Adam for making him give up such a thing.
So, couldn't he just let him leave in peace with himself?
-
(Time Skip)
In the cave
«Wow... What... is that?» Hunk asked.
«Blue...» whispered Keyla. Suddenly, a vivid memory occurred to her:
« Ulaz , are you sure? »
«I am sure, Krolia, we will return to the base of the Blade of Marmora to report to Kolivan, so that we can better protect the blue lion»
«But I have to... To go? Now? Again?»
«I'm afraid so»
Krolia turned to her husband, Texas, the man she loved, but was forced to abandon.
«I love you» he said.
«I love you too» he replied.
«Take care of Keyla, okay? And tell Jake to do the same»
«I'll do it»
Keyla returned to reality when he heard a rumble in the back of his mind.
«Stay calm, cub. Soon you'll come to your lion»
«W-what?»
«Wait and you'll see»
When Lance knocked on the particle barrier, it opened, revealing the Blue lion.
This, once everyone was aboard, took them to Altea, Coran and Allura.
-
«Oh... No...»
«What's up, princess?»
«We slept... For ten thousand deca-phobes...»
Coran seemed upset. Just like Allura.
-
Allura, while supervising the maze exercise, approached Coran.
«Coran, does that 'Keith' seem a little familiar to you?»
«Now that you made me think of it, he has a certain resemblance to someone we knew well» said Coran «Don't you think she looks like... Like Kro-»
«Hey! Are you doing it on purpose Mullet?! I want to switch! He cheats at the maze!»
Everyone groaned in resignation, and the subject was forgotten.
For the moment...
-
Training to form Voltron was hard, but it was even worse that the team could not bond with each other.
Keyla thought that the three Garrison boys were totally denied in melee combat, but at least the blue paladin was fairly good at shooting, while Shiro had problems with his flashbacks of the arena times.
The young paladins were about to lose hope when a mental bonding exercise came to mind in order to facilitate Voltron's training.
Then the paladins soon found themselves sitting in a circle with mind-fusion helmets on their heads.
Keyla could see in her head everything the others thought.
Pidge could only concentrate on the image of her and Matt at the Kerberos launch station.
Keyla was not stupid. She knew right away that Pidge was a girl. The first time she had seen her, she had immediately noticed her slender build well covered by the large sweatshirt she was wearing, and she had also noticed that it was devoid of an Adam's apple. She had noticed that her voice is a little sharper than normal.
She remembered all the times Matt had talked to her so proudly about his little sister Katie.
And if Keyla missed Matt, let just think how Pidge should have felt.
Hunk was thinking about his family, how much he missed that warm family unit that had always remained close to him. Keyla could see from the image that Hunk really had a large family, and Keyla felt a little envious of him.
Not that he thought Hunk wasn't kind, in fact, for her, Hunk was one of the nicest guys he'd ever met. He was just a little sad because he could never have that feeling.
Lance, surprisingly, wasn't thinking of stupid things like video games or girls, but Keyla could see that he too missed his family.
Shiro. It was... Hard to understand exactly what he was thinking. They seemed like memories of the arena, of the Earth and of the journey to Kerberos all put together in one confused memory.
He was also thinking about his family, his grandparents and Ryou, his beloved twin.
Keyla remembered the time Shiro introduced her to Ryou. He was likeable and, despite the similarity between the two, their characters were quite different, but in a positive sense.
Now it was her turn.
She had to commit himself. She had to think of Voltron, just Voltron, nothing else.
She didn't have to think about Adam, a close friend of his despite the fact that she was jealous of him because of her love for Shiro, who now probably will be wondering where she is.
She didn't have to think about Matt, his only true friend other than Shiro, but now he's probably somewhere with the Galra.
She didn't have to think about that time when Ryou came to visit her in the desert shack. She couldn't stand it. He looked too much like him.
She still remembers when he hugged her while she cried.
She didn't have to think about the memory of that purple woman (?) suddenly had just laid eyes on the blue lion.
She didn't have to think about Jake, his beloved cousin who always took care of her despite everything, especially after the death of his father, who is probably now bothering to look for her everywhere.
She didn't have to think about Shiro in particular. To their first night together. At the time he asked her to call him by his real name instead of an abbreviation of it. She wasn't supposed to think the way their mouths fit together so perfectly, or the way he hugged her in bed that last morning, like she was everything.
«Takashi...»
No, she told herself mentally, think of Voltron.
She didn't have to think about all the abusive families that had treated her for shit for at least six years or so.
She shouldn't have thought of it. She shouldn't have thought of the Thompsons, or how they had-
«Keith!»
Keyla opened her eyes. Why was she so wet? Was she... sweating? No... Was she having a panic attack?
She looked ahead of her. There was a familiar figure, with a white tuft on his forehead. She felt a weight on her cheeks, one warm and the other cold.
Shiro?
«Keith? Keith, are you okay?» Shiro seemed seriously worried.
All that Keyla knew was that while Shiro had been up front, the next one was a Shiro lying on the ground and Pidge was in front of her.
«Hey! I saw what you thought! That was Matt, right?! Do you know anything about him?! You know him?!»
«I... I..»
«Pidge! Stop it! Don't you see she is having a panic attack?!» Shiro shouted.
It was all she heard before she got up and headed for her room.
-
Keyla woke up alone in her room a couple of hours later.
She stifled a sad laugh. By now she was so, so tired of always waking up alone, even though she was used to it by now.
She turned sideways and heard a note slip from under the door.
It was from Shiro.
Hey Keith.
We are going to lunch now. If you feel like joining us there is no problem.
We are waiting for you.
Shiro
Keyla read the name 'Keith' several times.
Uh, she thought, sounds good.
Then she got up and headed for the dining room.
-
As soon as they started eating, a pair of handcuffs connected her to Lance's wrist and to Pidge's.
«Wha-?»
«Princess, with all due respect, we are tired. Can't you give us a moment for rest?» Shiro pleaded.
«Do you think Zarkon will give you a break when we're out there?» she replied.
While the other paladins protested, Keyla felt herself losing her breath. This... This thing around her wrists was driving her crazy.
She remembered her old families, when they tied her with handcuffs, when they punched her, when they kicked her, when they didn't give her food and when they locked her up in the same room for days.
«You're just a monster, and monsters deserve the worst things»
No, no, no ...
«Stop! Don't run away! Now come here, I'll give you a lesson!»
Stop stop...
«If you try to do something like that again, we'll leave you without food for a week!»
STOP!
« STOP! »
Everyone in the room fell silent.
The only thing that felt was the short breaths of Keyla.
The girl was standing, her sharp canines were popping up in place of her normal teeth and her eyes took on a vague shade of yellow.
Then she looked at everyone, confused.
Had she screamed it?
Then, given the silence, she calmly took her beautiful Luxite blade (which had never disappointed her) and cut off her handcuffs, while everyone looked at her in perplexity.
She got up and walked out the door without looking back.