Keith struggles to get alone time. Every time he goes to his room.... Goes to his room to look at his knife, someone walks in. Of course whoever walks in is usually looking for something and thinks for some reason that he knows where it is. Or, in Lance's case, thinks he is the one that took it. Such interruptions stress Keith out because he just wants to be able to study the Galra symbol on his knife. Maybe if he thinks hard enough and stares hard enough he can figure out what it means. Maybe if he tries hard enough, he can recall who gave him the knife in the first place.

After three days of intense (but also often interrupted) thinking, he decides to ask Coran. "Hey Coran," he says in the quietest voice he can manage and still be heard over the other discussions occurring within the bridge of the ship. "Do you think the Galra have ever been to Earth? You know, maybe they sent a scout or something."

Coran scoffs. "If the Galra went to Earth, or even sent a mere scout, you'd know."

Keith hates to admit it, but Coran is likely right. Then again, if Coran is right, how the hell did he get the knife? WIth Coran walking away and in Allura's direction, Keith realizes that he won't have a chance to ask Coran more questions for a while. Even if he did, should he ask more? Coran's answers are unlikely to deviate from his original answer.

Keith could ask Pidge to look into the Castle ship's database... But if he did that, Pidge would want to know why he is so curious. If he did that, Allura would likely want to know why he is curious as well. It is her Castle ship, after all.

He's going ot have to find the answers himself. That is easier said than done, with the Castle ship having a complicated computer system.

Galra tech.

He has been able to interact with Galra tech. He has been able to interact with galra tech with little to no effort.

Galra tech.

What could be a better way to learn about a Galra knife than through a Galra database?

"We'll be passing by a small Galra base tonight," Coran suddenly announces, interrupting Keith's train of thought. "It is a base used to store nonessential information. As much as I'd love to take a peek, due to the info being widely known as 'nonessential' the risks outweigh the benefits. We'll fly by without interacting it. We won't be passing by close enough to be detected by the base, so feel free to relax and maybe even get some extra sleep."

Even if is nonessential information, some information is better than no information. On top of it, with it being a small base, there is no way the security could be that tight.

--------------------------------

Keith is wrong.

Keith is horribly, horribly wrong.

There are guards around every corner. To make matters worse, there are also small drones, much like Pidge's beloved Rover, that speed through the hallways. The drone help the guards chase him. Or perhaps more accurately, they help the guards hunt him. Knowing very well that continuously running will only tire him out, Keith tries to hide. He tries to hide multiple times but every time a damn drone finds him.

Growling in frustration, Keith decides to stop running. Most importantly, he decides to stop hiding. At this rate, all the running and hiding will kill him if the guards don't. At this rate, he is better of leaving or fighting his way through to the data room. With the image of the Galra symbol on his beloved knife flashing before his eyes, Keith choses the later. He MUST know what the symbol means. He MUST know who gave it to him.

Stabbing the nearest guard and stealing their blaster, Keith shoots the drones out of the hallway air. Once the pesky drones are taken care of, Keith blasts every guard that comes across his path. After jogging around a couple of corners, each with their own set of feisty guards, Keith finally makes it to the data room.

Panting due to all of the running and fighting, Keith slaps his hand against the glowing purple sensor. The sensor, after scanning his hand, opens the door with a loud hiss. Keith stumbles through the doorway, with his eyes focused on the walls of the room. The room is like a library... That is, if libraries contained glowing books.

With the adrenaline that had been pumping through his veins to get him here fading away, Keith becomes aware of just how sore he is... How sore, battered and bloody he is. Despite having worn full paladin armor, a few lucky swings of Galra guards managed to cut his left arm, resulting in blood dripping down it in a red trail. Muttering a few choice words, Keith grabs one of the glowing books at random. Pushing a button that looks suspiciously like a power button, Keith watches in awe as the book opens... As it opens and project images.

The images are of various people... Err, of various Galra. Some of the Galra have little fur, some are scaly instead of furry... Some look strangely human. One female Galra, one with hardly any fur and with skin only tinted purple, looks very human. Looks very... As Keith notices how dark her fur is, and how slender her face is, Keith realizes something. The Galra looks familiar. The Galra looks familiar not only because she looks similar to a human, but because she looks like him. "Could she...?" Keith finds himself wondering out loud. "Could I be...?"

"The only thing you're going to be is dead if you don't get out of here soon," an unfamiliar voice remarks, making Keith jump. Spinning to face whoever is speaking, Keith is surprised to find a Galra officer speaking to him.

"Who the hell are you?" Keith shouts, dropping the glowing book in order to properly aim the blaster at the Galra officer. "Give me a good reason why I shouldn't shoot you!"

"I'm Thace," he replies, not even blinking at the fact that Keith has a weapon pointed at him. "If I wanted to kill you, you would already be dead. And I have a feeling if you really wanted to kill me you'd do it already." Moving slowly, and making it obvious that he is only reaching for a book, he adds, "I can give you the answers you are looking for. However, I can't guarantee you'll like them."

"What do you mean?" Keith hisses, "Why do you act like you know so much about me? Why would you know so much about me? You better explain!"

Thace emits an annoyed sigh. "I don't know you, but I know your mother. Or rather, I knew her... This book and the one you dropped will explain it all. I'd explain it to you, but I have a feeling you won't listen to me. After all, you don't have any reason to believe a word I say." Crouching so he can slide the book across the floor to him, Thace adds, "Take those two..." the word he utters sounds like complete gibberish to Keith, "and leave. Hell, take another of your choice and leave. Just know that if you don't leave soon, you will get killed. Or worse yet, you'll get caught. You do know what they do to prisoners, don't you?"

At Thace's last words, an image of a frail yet fighting Shiro flashes before Keith's eyes. He can't let himself end up like that... If he were to get caught, the rest of the Paladins would know that he left them. If he were to get caught, the rest of the Paladins would try to save them. In doing so, they could get caught. If they got caught... They'd have to fight in the arena. In Shiro's case, he'd have to fight in the arena again. Keith won't let that happen.

Shoving the glowing books into the bag he brought with him, Keith flashes Thace a glare before dashing out of the room. Once out of the room, Keith can't help but notice that purple lights within the base are now red... They are a red that match his suit. It a red that signals an issue, an intruder.

Have the alarm been going off the whole time? If so Keith hadn't noticed. He had been too focused on getting to the data room. He had been too focused on getting answers. With the blaster suddenly feeling like a boulder within his arms, Keith drops it in favor of using his bayard.

To his luck, it seems as though he fought most of the Galra guards and drones earlier. Due to this, if you put his injuries aside, Keith is able to leave the base with ease. Thanking Red for her patience, Keith hurries back to the Castle ship, all the while hoping that no one wakes up. If anyone were to awake upon his return, it would be hard to hide the fact that he left in the first place. It would also be hard to hide the fact he got hurt. "Can you do me a favor and land quietly?" Keith asks Red, who hums in response. The hum is a loud, yet reassuring sound. "Thanks Red."

--------------------------------

Keith is tempted to use a healing pod once he is back on the Castle ship. However, he knows the ship keeps an automatic log of when the pods are used. Such a log is something Allura looks at frequently, thanks to a clumsy Lance who tries to use the pods for the smallest of injuries, such as a stubbed toe. If Keith wishes to keep his nightly adventure a secret, he is going to have to heal himself the old fashion way, with antibiotic ointment and lots of bandages.

Cursing at the faint blood trail he is leaving due to his arm, Keith hurries to his room. Stuffing his bag full of glowing books under the bed, Keith hurries to find his first aid kit. Regretting having moved it from its place on his shelf just a few days ago, Keith struggles to look without making his room into a complete mess. Keith struggles to look around without making a lot of noise.

"Keith? What are you doing?" A horrifyingly familiar voice asks. Keith doesn't have to turn around to know it's Shiro. " Why are you suited up? Why..." As Shiro's voice trails off, Keith attempts to hide his injured arm from him. He does this a bit too late, however. "Why are you bleeding?"

Shiro's gaze feels heavy against his back as he fails to turn around, and as he fails to answer. What is he suppose to say? He could tell the truth but...

"I don't know you, but I know your mother. Or rather, I knew her... "

Thace's words echo within his mind. If the Galra haven't been to Earth, then how could Thace have known his mother? Does that mean his mother his Galra? Could his mother be the Galra from the glowing book he was looking at? Could he be Galra? Between the glowing books, Thace's words and his knife, the possibility seems all too likely.

Shiro can't know that he is trying to figure out if he is Galra. The Galra tortured him and stole his arm. If Shiro were to find out... It could make Shiro mad, scared, or worst of all, angry. As for Allura, since the Galra wiped out her planet and her kind, Keith knows she would be angry. She would hate him. That is why it is best that no one knows he is looking into it. If know one knows, no one will suspect him of leaving if he turns out to be Galra.

"Keith," Shiro's voice is soft. It is soft, yet strained. "I'm not going to scold you or judge you. Just tell me what is going on." Even though Shiro doesn't say it, Keith knows that Shiro meant to add a 'please' at the end. 'Please tell me, Keith.'

"I..." It's hard for him to keep such a big thing hidden. It is hard for him not to just ramble to Shiro then and there. "I can't tell you. Not yet. Can I have some time to myself, please?"

Shiro emits a heavy, tired sigh. "In that case, get yourself bandaged up. We can talk about it in the morning. I hate to push you, but it's either we talk about it or Allura does. I have a feeling she wouldn't be as understanding."

"Yeah," Keith responds with a sad chuckle. "Thanks, Shiro."

"Anytime."

As soon as Shiro is gone, Keith pulls the glowing books out from under his bed. Not patient enough to go through them one at a time, he opens them all at once. Thanks to this, he is literally surrounded by information. Although a good part of it has nothing to do with him, a large part does. A large part, thanks to the Castle ship's translators, answer some of his questions. The answers, which are a lot different than he was expecting, don't comfort him.

"Thace knows my mother because she is Glara..." Keith whispers, to remind himself this all isn't some horrible dream. "And my mother knows my father because he went on a mission... A mission that few people on Earth know about. Where is my mother, now? Where is my father, now?" Although the glowing books answer many of his questions, they don't answer all of them. "So what am I, half Galra? Or is my mother only part Galra, making me less than half Galra?" With a frustrated sigh, Keith shoves the glowing books out of sight and finally bandages his arm up like he promised Shiro.

Shiro.

They're not going to be able to talk about this in the morning. They're not going to be able to talk about it ever. It would hurt Keith too much to see Shiro's reaction. It would hurt Keith too much to see Shiro realize that he is the enemy.

Keith is part Galra. He is part of the species that tortured Shiro, that has killed countless and has destroyed Allura's home.

It would hurt too much for Keith to see their reactions. It would hurt them too much to pretend to be okay with him being part Galra for the sake of Voltron.

Voltron...

Red...

Surely Voltron doesn't really need him.

Surely Red could find a different, more human pilot.

He has to leave. He has to leave before Shiro gets a chance to talk to him. He has to leave before any of them find out. He has to leave before any of them have a chance to stop him, to pretend to care about their new Keith. Their Galra Keith. He has to leave soon.

Throwing the glowing books and the rest of his meager belongings in one bag, Keith pokes his head out of his bedroom door. The hallway is empty, with no Shiro, Allura or anyone potentially troublesome in sight.

Pulling his head back in, he decides to write a note for them. He's going to keep it short and simple. Although he is tempted to lie or sugarcoat it all, he gives them a run down... He writes where he went, who he ran into and what he found. When it comes to signing it, he scribbles the first thing comes to mind.

I'm sorry that I turned out to be the enemy,

Keith

Leaving the note on his pillow, he peaks out the door one more time before dashing down the hallway. He knows it would be better him to walk so his footsteps would be quieter, but he can't bring himself to move slower. If he move slower, he would hesitate. If he were to hesitate, he would likely stop. If he were to stop, he would never leave.

Resisting the urge to run to Red, Keith hops into one of the castle's pods. Although the pods are far from ideal, with them having a very weak defense system and almost no weapon system, he doesn't have a choice. Voltron needs Red to form Voltron, but Voltron doesn't need him.

It isn't until Keith is in the pilot seat that he realizes that he has no destination in mind. Sure he knows that he wants to find his mother and father, but he has no idea where to look. With a heavy sigh he decides to head to the nearest trading post. He can work on the details later. For now he just needs to leave. He needs to leave and find a new place to stay so he can get some sleep.

Powering up the pod, Keith makes it halfway down the hangar before Red stops him. "Red, get out of the way!" Keith shouts. To his annoyance, instead of getting out of the way Red gets more in the way... She lays down across the hangar, with Black joining her. Together they block the exit. "Both of you, really?" Red and Black just stare at him. "Just," his voice, which had been loud and powerful starts to crack. "Just l-let me l-leave."

"Keith!" A voice shouts, and of course it's Shiro that Keith sees running towards him. Black probably clued him in on what is happening. "Keith, wait!" Shiro stops a few feet from the pod and looks at him. He looks at him with worried eyes. Worried, tired eyes that have dark bags beneath them. "I read your note," Shiro waves the note at him, to prove that he is not lying. "Pidge woke up because they thought they heard someone running down the hallway. They've read it too. No one else know yet, Keith. No one else has to know, if you don't want them to. After all, you being part Galra doesn't mean anything."

"Does it really mean nothing?" Keith shouts, "Or are you just lying to me? You are one of few people who have a really good reason to hate me. The Glara tortured you! They tortured you, and probably killed the Holts. What's to stop me from turning into one of them? What's to stop me from killing you or Pidge or anyone on this ship? I don't want to be like them... I don't want to kill innocent people or kill the people that I consider family." Keith speaks a mile a minute, yet Shiro seems to understand every word he is saying. "I'm scared. I'm scared that I'm going to turn purple and fluffy and kill you all."

Upon hearing Keith's words, Shiro walks closer to the pod until he is right in front of Keith. He walks until he is right in front of Keith, before placing a hand on the pod. The hand he places on the pod is his Glara tech hand. "You're not the only one that, in some way, is part Galra. This hand hasn't made me into a monster and your blood won't turn you into a monster either. Is there a chance you could transform and look Galra? Yes. That won't stop you from being a paladin of Voltron. You won't stop being a good person. Most importantly, you won't stop being you." Shiro takes a deep breath before continuing to speak. "If you don't believe any of that, just know this... Just know that whatever happens, I'll be here for you. I'm sure the others will say the same thing, even if it takes them a little time to do so."

Shiro is right. Of course Shiro is right. Despite this, Keith still has his doubts. "Do you mean it? Do you really mean it?"

"Of course," is Shiro's quick response. "Now, please let me in."

Keith does. When he does Shiro practically runs towards him and hugs him. Shiro hugs him tightly, but not too tightly. The hug warms Keith and makes him feel safe. "Do you think we'll ever find them? Do you think we'll ever find my mom and dad?"

"I'm sure we will," Shiro whispers, rubbing small circles on Keith's back "I'm sure we will, if we work together."