Keith's knife clattered to the ground, bouncing off the pristine white floor. It all happened so fast he even moved to bring the luxite blade up to defend himself agenst his attacker. Luckily he noticed with seconds to spare and vaulted to the floor to avoid the blue blade of the castle's training robot, set to difficulty 9. Highest it's ever been set to.

Highest anyone has ever reached still alive.

"Stop training session!" Keith gasped before the robot could round on him and take his head. The blue and white guardian froze midstep before evaporateing back into the rooms code.

Keith rose on shaky legs from his defensive position on the floor, moving unsteadily to where the purple blade lay in contrast to the shining white that took the whole room. He had strode through the doors of the training room hours ago, itching to blow off steam since he couldn't take his anger out on the one who caused it.

Lance.

Moronic imbecile that he was decided it was a good idea to start prying at the fact that Keith was part Galra. Making fun of Keith had been one thing, but when he had the audacity the relate what happened to Shiro, Keith's brother in every way but blood, to him being Galra? Keith lost it. If Allura hadn't been standing right there waiting for him to do something, anything, slightly close to the behavior of a Galra, Keith would have driven his luxite blade right through Lance for ever comparing him to the monsters that held Shiro.

So Keith stormed out, his mind full of anger and self loathing. Truth be told the anger had diminished well before he had reached the training room, but his mind had wondered to the fact that Lance may not have been wrong.

The Galra did those horrible things to Shiro, enough to make him lose himself sometimes. Shiro was always terrifying when that happened, nothing but pure rage and an animalistic focus to kill, but the most horrifying thing? That came when they brought Shiro back and he fell apart at the memories of being experimented on and forced to fight in an arena. Yes the Galra did that to him.

And Keith was part Galra.

With his mind lost in the dark thoughts he started his training at level one. The way the room was set up you eaither beat the guardian or survived an hour. Keith had only beat the first three.

Keith's right shoulder flared in burning pain as he reached down to retrieve his knife. Strange, he pondered wondering where the sharp pain was coming from, he didn't remember being hit by the guardian's blade but it was entirely possible he was so focused he didn't feel the skin get torn.

Tentatively Keith reached his left hand over his right shoulder and gently traced the area. More pain erupted, worse than before, but when he pulled his hand away there was no blood covering his finger tips.

Keith didn't have time to question his pain as Hunk's ever cheery voice came over the loud speaker or intercom or whatever Altean device ran through the castle, alerting the castles residents that dinner was ready and to report immediately to the dinning hall.

He stood there in that pristine white room wondering if training and possibly causing more pain was batter than having to sit though the concoction that Hunk and Coran had created, but ultimately decided agenst it.

Sheathing his dagger with his injured arm proved to be difficult but he managed before walking out of the blinding training room and down the hall, his boot clicking agenst the flooring the whole way.

Dinner was... awkward. The air around the table was heavy, almost suffocatingly so. Hunk , Pidge, and Coran ate happily not noticing the atmosphere that hung over the others, each giving off a slightly different emotion to add to the ever growing storm.

Lance had his head down. He sat abnormally still and quiet while he pushed his food around the plate in front of him. Lance always, Always are like truck. No matter what it tasted like he ate as much as he could as fast as he could all while blabbering endlessly. Not tonight though. Tonight he just sat quietly and listened to the small conversations that had begun on the other end of the table.

On Lance's right, Shiro seemed nervous. His shoulders were tense and he looked like he wanted to say something but wasn't sure if he should. He kept looking between lance and Keith, his gaze lingering on Keith longer than Lance as if he was worried.

At the head of the table, Keith could feel Allura's gaze burning into him refusing to let him out of her sight while the others were around. She hadn't reacted very well to him being part Galra. Her hands were clenched tightly around her silverware making her normally dark knuckles turn pale. She wore her armor as if she was expecting a fight and wanted the upper hand.

Keith was just trying to not be noticed. The occasional pain in his shoulder had transformed into a throb and every few minutes it would spike again sending agony throughout his body. His hands were shaking badly and he didn't even try to eat knowing it would be impossible with the tremors in his fingers. He kept his eyes trained on the table trying desperately not to show he was in pain but as the seconds ticked by it was becomeing more challenging. He was sweating but he could blame that on the training. Keith was always quiet but he at least ate most days.

Dinner ticked by with agonizing speed but eventually people started to wander off, Hunk going to the kitchen to clean, Pidge heading toward the green lions hanger, Allura, Coran and Shiro heading to the bridge. Keith tried to make a B-line to his room but was cut off by a certain blue eyed Cuban.

"Keith, can we talk?" Lance came up beside him before curving in front of him, effectively making Keith stop in the hallway. "Look Keith I'm sorry about what I said earlier. That was totally upt of line and if I had been thinking strait I would never have said it. I didn't even realize what I was saying before it was coming out of my mouth and I regret every second of that fight. I'm so sorry. You know I dont think of you as a monster right? Because I don't think of you as a monster! You know I always got your back right buddy? I mean we're Paladins! I'll always have your back! I'm just so sorry that any of this happened, I'm sorry I said that, it was totally uncalled for especially in front of Allura who already kinda hates you-"

Lance babbled on about how sorry he was but Keith was in so much pain he didn't even listen. Lance had said he was sorry wasn't that enough? It had been a stupid comment and now it was done. Keith wasn't mad but he was starting to lose control over his stoic facade, he knew he couldn't take this much longer without showing his pain. "Lance! It's ok. You don't have to apologize. It was a stupid comment that you obviously didn't mean to say."

"So we're good?" Lance asked. This wasn't like Keith to just forgive and forget. Something was off here. Now that lance was really looking Keith looked paler than usual, if that was even possible, and he kept looking past Lance to his room. "Hey, dude, you ok?"

Lance reached out a hand and set it down on his right shoulder. Keith tried so hard not to flinch when the hand settled on his right shoulder but he couldn't help it. It Hurt. Lance retracted his hand almost immediately, "Keith, your freezing" That wasn't exactly what Keith thought he was going to say but he took the opportunity.

"We're good, Lance" Keith muttered before pushing past Lance and making his way to his room. One he got inside he immediately shut his eyes and let out a pained sigh. He was freezing, he hadn't even noticed until lance had said something but he was cold.

He stumbled farther into the bare room and all but collapsed on the bed. Keith placed his head in his hand for a moment trying to regain even a little bit of his normal composure, but he couldn't ignore the sweat collecting on the back of his neck, or the way his entire body what shaking both from mindless pain and the fridgid tempature of his body. Wait, he was sweating and shivering? That can't be right.

Keith rose from the mattress before he slowly made his way towed the bathroom, his vision we swirling with dark and light spots as his hip bone collided with the sink, that thing was at a dangerous height. He gazed into the mirror shocked by how pale and tired he looked. Lance must have though he was dying... no wonder he tried to be nice. They may have been "rivals", as lance would say, but apparently he still cared if Keith was healthy or not.

That was the question, what was wrong with Keith? Why was he in so much pain?

As if being summoned another shap stabb of pain exploded in his shoulder, so painful that his knees gave out. Keith wildly threw his hands out and caught the edge of the sink before his head did.

A sob wrenched its way up his throat as he used both arms to steady his legs again. Keith looked back up in the mirror, tired, painfilled,amethyst eyes gazed back at him.

Keith gently grabbed the hem of his shirt and lifted it slightly, he was immediately met by more pain. Determination setting in, Keith griped the fabric hard and wrenched it over his head trying desperately to ignore the scream of agony that rose from the action.

When the gray shirt was removed it left Keith looking at his bare chest, almost to scared to turn around, but he had to! He had to see what was happening! He had to see... didn't he? Keith closed his eyes,took a deep breath and turns so he was facing sideways to the mirror. He knew he should open his eyes but he was terrified of what was happening to him, mostly because he didn't know what was happening. Shaking Keith opened his eyes and his breath hitched.

What the hell?

Just below his right shoulder blade was a patch of pale purple. Tiny purple tendrils spread out from every direction causing th skin around the purple to become red and irritated. It looked like some kind of disease. The darkest section of it was a mix of a dozen different shades of purple and was centerd on the cloud shaped bruse. Was it a bruse? If it was it was the strangest bruse he had ever seen, and Keith had seen his fair share.

He didn't know how long he sat there staring at his back, But eventually his shivers had disappeared and he knew that was a bad thing. It took him ten minuets to get his shirt back over both arms, it gave him time to think. He knew he needed help but he didn't know who he should go to.

Allura and Coran were obviously not a choice. He didn't know what was happening but he bet it had something to do with him being Galra. Allura would rather shoot Keith before even considering helping him, and while Coran didn't say anything he had distanced himself from Keith tremendously since his announcement.

Pidge wa vetoed almost as quickly seeing as she would help by running tests. Lots of tests. Keith didn't like tests he hated needles and the thought of being strapped down. Plus Keith wasn't sure if Pidge actually had emotions, he was convinced she was a robot like the training gaurdians.

He considered asking Hunk for help but out of all the paladins Hunk k ew the least about him, and was more likely to get scared or sick than to be truly helpful.

That left Shiro and Lance.

Shiro was like a brother to him. He had taken Keith under his wing when Keith's father had died. They always looked after each other no matter what. That was all before the Kerberos mission. Things had changed quite a bit from when it was just them racing speeders in the desert. Things like the Galra. And while Lance had admitted he was out of line Keith couldn't help but think about what he had said. Keith was part Galra. Part the race that tourtured Shiro for a year! The thought of asking Shiro to help him with this immediately made he feel sick. Keith had not right to put Shiro through that.

That left only one person

Keith exited his bathroom and glanced at the clock by his bed. On earth it would be close to three in the morning. Everyone would be asleep. It took Keith by surprise that he had been in that bathroom for hours , but a stab of pain brought him back from faxing off again.

He left his room quietly. He wasn't to worried about waking people up as he snuck out of his room in the middle of the night most of the time and become quite skilled at moving silently. His destination was just around the corner, it took him to time to get there. Every step he took jostled his shoulder causing it to take much longer to get to the door than he would have liked. He knocked on the door so he couldn't talk himself out of asking for help. The door opened seconds after to reveal his choice of help.

"Lance-"