When Two Worlds Collide

Chapter 8

After the little talk that the two of them had Keith and Lance didn't really talk to each other. They spent the next week avoiding each other as much as they could. The only time that the two of them talked to each other was during meals and group training. So needless to say that they haven't been spending as much time with each other as they have been these past few weeks. And the other members of the Castleship have taken notice of this sudden turn of events. Even though most of them were still reeling from the loss of their beloved leader Shiro, they were also very concerned about their two friends. Everyone was hoping that they weren't back to square one when they were fighting all of the time. That part of their relationship got old, very, very fast. And on more than one occasion Pidge had mentioned that if that were to happen, then she would start 'bashing brains in'. Coran and Allura just looked at her in pure and utter horror. Luckily Hunk chose then to step in and explain that it was an Earthly expression and all that Pidge meant was that she would just go confront Keith and Lance and make them get along.

So far whenever someone tried to confront one of the two other paladins, they were met with great resistance to their efforts. Lance would just brush them all off, and play the situation like it was some big joke. He then would redirect the topic of conversation before retreating to his room. And then Keith, surprisingly, wasn't as hostile as they thought he would be. He was more quiet and timid than normal, and he just turned tail and ran to who knows where in the castle to avoid talking to anyone about it. Though to the rest of the people on board it was more terrifying to have a quiet Keith in situations like these than his normal self. Everyone was really concerned about the two of them. But they didn't know how to go about that since they couldn't get anyone to cooperate with them. It was a very frustrating experience and they had all had it up to their breaking point by now. But they just couldn't go and confront them and have it all end well.

Things only got more bizarre with Keith and Lance after Keith was appointed the next Black Paladin. Lance was so excited to become Black's new pilot, he was bouncing up and down the walls for days when Allura had told them that they needed a new leader. The only one who didn't want anything to do with it was Keith. And that was sort of understandable for a lot of them. Even though Keith and Shiro weren't related by blood, he was still the closet thing that he had to a family. And that's what Hunk said when he was the one who drew the short straw and had to explain all of this to Allura and Coran to keep Allura from tearing Keith a new one about the way that he was acting. Hunk had told them that he didn't really know a whole lot about Keith in general or his past. All that he knew was that he was an orphan and that he had a lot of behavioral issues, along with being one of if not the best pilot in their generation back at the Garrison. And the only reason why he got into a lot of fights and acted like he was a prick in Lance's opinion was that he got picked on a lot. Pidge didn't know about it because she wasn't there for that long and Keith wasn't there when she was. And Lance could never believe that Keith couldn't not get into a fight that he started. He never believed Hunk when he had told him that the reason that Keith got into so many fights with some of the other cadets was that they mocked, and bullied him for not having a family and being a 'freak' because of it. That made the two Alteans understand a bit more and it got Allura to back off just a little bit. Not a lot though.

But the day that Keith got picked by Black, Hunk honestly thought that Keith was going to pass out. The guy looked so pale, well paler than his normal complexion, and he was trembling. Hunk was pretty sure that he was one of the, if not the only one who noticed it. He knew that to Keith stepping into that lion and being accepted was like accepting the fact that Shiro was gone and that he wasn't ever coming back. And he then had to deal with the fact that even though he had all of Team Voltron standing behind him, he had just lost the only family that he was truly comfortable with forever. And that broke Hunk's own heart just a little bit. He felt bad for Keith, he himself didn't know what it felt like to lose everything like that but he knew that it must have sucked for him a lot. And another thing that Hunk knew was stuff like that didn't go away if ever.